


Meddling Baristas Save Angels

by M3zzaTh3M3z



Series: Angels, the coffee shop where I work [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Barista Gabriel, Books, Coffee, Cute notes, Matchmaking, Minor Gabriel/Sam Winchester, Multi, Original Character-centric, POV Original Female Character, Past Gabriel/Kali (Supernatural), Rescue Missions, Runaway Castiel, Secret Crush, Trickster Gabriel, past Gabriel/original character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-30
Updated: 2015-09-01
Packaged: 2018-04-12 02:35:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4462106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/M3zzaTh3M3z/pseuds/M3zzaTh3M3z
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hey, I'm Sarah and I'm a barista at Angels. I love coffee, romance and maybe Mina, my boss. Angels is cool place (if you can put up with Gabe our baker/trickster/barista) , but we don't get many customers, despite being right next to Kansas College (Mina blames Starbucks) The upside is we get to know our regulars pretty well. There's Jo, a badass little ray of sunshine, Chuck, the aspiring writer/coffee addict, Dean, who's studying Engineering and Castiel, the oddball English student. The downside is that if things don't pick up soon, we're gonna have to close down!<br/>Luckily, I had a brilliant idea. We need something to  draw in customers, and what could work better than a matchmaking service? Mina thinks it could work, but I've got to prove myself first, by matching up two of our regulars without scaring them away. I don't really know why she chose Dean and Castiel as our test subjects, they don't even know each other, but if there's one thing fanfiction has taught me, it's that coffee shops are great for romance!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Commence Operation Cean

**Author's Note:**

> I had this random idea while waiting for my mum in a coffee shop (gasp unexpected I know)  
> I'm going to try my best with it, don't really know if it will work out as planned but should be fun to try at least!

I’m not quite sure what time it is when I finally stumble into Angels, the coffee shop where I work, but by my reckoning it is way too early in the morning to be doing anything, let alone working. Of course, Mina disagrees.  
“Sarah! You’re late again!” she says, as she does a last minute wipe down of the tables. Even in my bleary eyed state the sight of her going up onto tiptoes to reach the other side makes me smile.  
“Sorry…” I mumble. “I overslept.” I go behind the counter and dump my stuff.  
“Again?” Mina asks, sighing. “What are you doing all night? And you know you can’t leave your stuff there, it’s against health and safety!”  
“Sorry,” I say again and take my bag to the little staff break room. I don’t tell her the reason I was up so late. She’d probably just laugh like my family did. I let her think of her own reasons. Maybe she’ll think it’s because I’m out partying or fighting crime or something cool like that. Yeah, that would be good. I take a moment to adjust my red waistcoat and run a hand through my curly black hair. I wish I’d had time to put on makeup this morning but at least all our early morning customers will be as tired as me and unlikely to notice. With this thought consoling me I head back out to the main café.  
“Can I get myself a coffee?” I ask, as I do every morning.  
“Only if you pay,” replies Mina, as she does every morning.  
“Staff discount?” I try. It sometimes works.  
“Hmm… you can have 40% off,” she decides while straightening out some of the armchairs.  
“Wow, that generous?” I say, surprised. Normally I’m lucky to get 20%. “Who are you and what did you do with Mina?”  
She laughs and I smile as I start making my expresso (after paying for it of course). She has a lovely laugh and it warms me even more than my coffee will. Call me soppy if you want, what can I say? I’m a romantic, through and through.  
Most people would probably complain about having to pay when they work here all day every day, but I know how hard Mina and her aunt work to keep Angels going, and how close they come to having to shut down every month or so. Well, it’s mainly Mina honestly. I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but her aunt, who technically owns/runs the place, is rarely around, so it falls to Mina to keep the business going. Pretty heavy responsibility for a 19 year old. Same age as me and I really can hardly keep myself going.  
An alarm on Mina’s phone goes off, signalling that it’s time to open up.  
“I’ll get it,” I say and cross over to the door to twist round the little ‘open/closed’ sign. Almost immediately I spot one of our regulars crossing the street and give her a smile. She spots me and waves back.  
“Hey Jo!” I say as she walks in.  
“Heya Sarah! My usual please.”  
“To go?” I expertly start making her coffee and pause with my hand just before the cups.  
“Yeah sorry, I’d love to stay and chat but I’ve got class soon.” Even tired and stressed Jo is bright eyed. She’s like a little pick me up every morning.  
“Too bad,” I say. She’s always fun to talk with. “Here you go.”  
“Thanks!”  
She flips a coin into the tip jar as usual on her way out and I’m smiling at her long after she’s gone.  
“You should ask her out,” comments Mina, an irritating knowing look in her dark eyes.  
“I what?” I exclaim. “No, I couldn’t!”  
She laughs. “Why not? Got somebody else?” When I say nothing and concentrate on making sure the coffee making machine is set up right, she presses on. “Ooh! Who is she? What’s she like?”  
‘Well, she’s very pretty, half Japanese with beautiful eyes and her hair is super smooth and I spend a lot of my day watching her and she smells of sugar and coffee and she’s hardworking and funny and kind and I maybe have a huge crush on her and btw it’s you,’ is what I could say, if I was brave enough. But I’m not brave, so instead I settle for, “There isn’t anyone, ok? I smile at all our regulars.”  
That last part is true enough. Despite having the best coffee in town (if I do say so myself) we don’t get a lot of customers. Mina often complains about how everyone just wants generic Starbucks these days and has no time for little independent cafes. However, while it means that Angel’s is perpetually on the brink of closure, the lack of customers almost means that we know most of our regulars pretty well. Most of them are college students who come in the mornings before class and then later to make use of the free Wi-Fi and comfy armchairs for an hour or so as they get to work. We’ve even started stocking some stationary that they can buy in case theirs break. I guess it’s a good atmosphere to study in: generally quiet, cosy, comfy chairs, calming artwork and a ready supply of good coffee. Occasionally Mina jokes that having two good looking girls like us in our cute uniform helps too. I blushed at that and hoped my dark skin hid it enough.  
“Here come some more customers,” I say as the door opens and some tired students wander in. I’m pleased to notice that I don’t recognise any of them; it’s a good sign if we’re getting new people. They all order different drinks so for a few minutes Mina and I are whizzing around the small kitchen with practiced efficiency and the smell of coffee fills the air. Despite our speed, I make sure I draw a little leaf or heart or animal with the milk in each drink as a little signature. I love the smiles on people’s faces when they’re not expecting it. Yes, I’m aware that is also soppy. Deal with it.  
When the little group have taken their coffee, I notice two of our regulars have come and settled down. Dean, an engineering student, is in his normal comfy chair by the window, reading through a textbook and at the other end of the café is Castiel, and English Literature student, tapping away at his laptop facing the wall as always. Those two are in here most mornings, taking the time to study or relax before class. I don’t think they know each other though.  
“Hey, we’ve got a couple of people in already,” I say the Mina. “Maybe things are looking up, customer wise?”  
“Maybe…” replies Mina in a small voice. She slows what she’s doing and stares solemnly down at the counter.  
“What’s the matter?” I ask, suddenly filled with alarm.  
She stops arranging the cakes and faces me. “Angels might have to shut down soon,” she says helplessly. Oh. That might explain why she was being so nice with the discount. Not much point in charging me more if we’re not going to be here much longer.  
“What? But we’re not doing that badly! I’m sure we’ve been getting more customers recently!” I don’t know what I’d do without Angels really. Not only is it nearly impossible to get a job nowadays, but I doubt anywhere else would have co-workers as nice as Mina.  
“A bit more customers, yeah,” admits Mina. “But it’s not enough. This time I’m not sure we can bounce back.” She sounds close to tears, so I walk up to her and pull her in for a hug.  
“It’ll be alright,” I promise, though I’ve no way of making that true.  
She sniffs slightly. “Thanks Sarah,” she mumbles into my shoulder. I breathe in the smell of her hair. It’s sweet and tinged with as much coffee as the rest of this place. Her little body is warm; I feel the heat of it pressed up against me and even though she’s nearly crying a small part of me can’t help but enjoy the feeling. Not my fault, I’m a romantic remember?  
“Is everything alright?”  
We break apart, a tad guiltily. Dean is waiting at the counter, concern written across his face.  
“Yeah, fine, don’t worry,” says Mina hurriedly. She plasters on a slightly too bright smile. “So, what can we get you, Dean?”  
“Uh, I’ll have an expresso please,” he says. I make a move to the machine, but Mina interrupts.  
“I’ve got it,” she says, and busies herself with making the drink, leaving me stood around doing nothing. I smile awkwardly at Dean. He’s nice enough, but I’m still a bit nervous around him because when I first started here he used to hit on me. Once I’d explained that he wasn’t at all my type, he’d apologised and stopped immediately. We get on fine now, but I still prefer to talk to him with Mina there.  
“Is she OK?” Dean asks in a low voice, leaning across the counter slightly and nodding his head at Mina. Another customer comes in and waits patiently behind him.  
“Yeah…” I reply quietly. “But… it seems like this place might shut down soon, we get so few customers.”  
Dean’s face fell. “That’s terrible! This place has the best coffee by far, where else will I spend my time before class?”  
“In bed like a normal person?” I suggest, smiling slightly.  
“Not really me,” Dean says, shaking his head and smiling in return.  
“Here you go Dean,” says Mina, appearing with the expresso. She hands it over and accepts the note Dean pays with. “I’ll just get your change.”  
While she’s at the till, Dean says, “You know what you could do? You could try and make some sort of special attraction for this place or something! I bet that would get more people in.”  
“Like what?” I ask.  
Dean shrugs and takes his change from Mina. “Anyway, thanks,” he says. “I’ll try and encourage my friends to come here, but I don’t have that many really.” He laughs and goes back to his seat.  
“What was he talking about?” asks Mina as she begins serving the next person.  
“He was saying we could get more customers if we had a special attraction or something here,” I say.  
“Like what?”  
“He didn’t have any ideas there.” I shrug, just like he did. “Maybe… dating?”  
“Dating?” Mina looks at me and I feel my face heating up.  
“You know… like, a place to meet somebody and get together?” Ugh, I shouldn’t have said that. Mina’s wonderful and all but I don’t think she’s into the whole romance thing as much as me. I don’t even know if she likes girls or boys or what. Well, she did go on a date once but it didn’t work out so that’s not much help really.  
“I don’t think that counts as an attraction,” says Mina, but she’s smiling. Just then, Castiel seems to remember he hasn’t actually bought anything and comes up to the counter.  
“Hey Cas!” Mina greets him.  
“It’s Castiel,” he reminds her in his gravelly voice. “A large cappuccino, please.”  
“Sure thing Cas,” Mina says with a wink. He smiles slightly and brushes some non-existent dirt off that old trench coat of his. He doesn’t seem to get the idea of wearing different clothes, almost every day it’s a shirt, blue tie and coat, no matter the weather. We sometimes discuss theories of why he does it. Mina thinks he’s one of those people who can’t deal with things that change; I think he just likes the style.  
“What if we set them up?” I suggest as I start up the machine. If I squint, the cloud of steam it shoots out is almost a heart shape. Okay… maybe I’m being a bit overly romantic even for me. It is still early though.  
“What?” asks Mina.  
“As our attraction I mean. Here you go Castiel.” I hand him his drink with the little angel wings pattern I always give him. He specifically asked me for it the first time he came and I always remember.  
“Thank you Sarah.” He smiles as he drops some coins into our tip jar and returns to his spot.  
“You think we should try set people up and then advertise the fact that we’re meddling baristas?” Mina’s voice is tinged with amusement, though she keeps a straight face.  
“I don’t see why not,” I protest. “Aren’t coffee shops meant to be romantic or something?”  
“Dunno. But do you really think you could set people up? I mean, I know you like romance, but you don’t really have a lot of experience.”  
Ouch. That hurt more than she probably realised. It’s true I’ve only been on a few disastrous dates, but I’ve read more than enough fanfiction to know what to do. I don’t mention that though; I don’t want to seem lame or anything.  
“Actually, I set up my friends once and that worked out great!” I fail to mention this was in 7th grade but hey young romance can be a thing right?  
“Really?” Mina looks impressed and a feel a warm glow in my chest. “Well… I suppose if you are a good matchmaker it couldn’t hurt to try…”  
I wasn’t expecting this, but I can’t back down now. Not when Mina seems to think it could actually help our beloved café.  
“But I think we need a test run,” she continues.  
“Sure,” I agree. “What, so like I just set up two people together and if I’m successful we try it on a larger scale as an attraction?”  
“Sorta,” says Mina, thinking it over. “But I think we need a few more constraints than that.”  
“So, you choose the people?” I suggest.  
“Yeah. And you can’t take too long about it. And it can’t put them off Angels”  
“Seems fair enough. Can I enlist your help though?”  
“Course! I’m not going to miss out on some matchmaking fun!”  
“So, who do you want me to set up?” I ask. She’s quiet for a moment as she mulls it over. The café is quiet as well, the only sound is the clicking of Cas’s keyboard and the faint beat from Dean’s headphones. Slowly, she turns to me, smiling.  
“I’ve got it!” she announces, then claps her hand over her mouth. She looks around furtively at our two customers, but neither are paying us any attention. “Those two. Together,” she whispers.  
“Dean and Cas?” I reply. Well, who would have thought of that?  
Mina nods. “Yeah. I bet they’d be cute together!”  
I consider it. “Yes, I suppose you’re right,” I realise. “But I’ve never even seen them look at each other. It’s unlikely the notice the other exists!”  
Mina giggles. “Well, that just makes it even more of a challenge!”  
“Challenge accepted!” I say, loving the way the mischievous smile lights up her features. After checking again that they’re still engrossed in their work, I lean in closer to Mina. “Right, we need to get planning,” I say. “Operation Cean is go.”  
“Cean?” she asks.  
“Castiel and Dean, duh,” I reply.  
“Huh,” she says. “What about Destiel?”  
“That’s a stupid name!” I laugh. “No offence.”  
“None taken,” she says, laughing as well. “Right then, Operation Cean it is. Ideas?"


	2. Stage One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Operation Cean is go!

“Another expresso please,” says Chuck, not looking up from his frenzied typing. With the amount of energy twitching through his fingers it always amazes me that he can hit the right keys.

“Sure thing,” I reply and take his empty cup for a refill. I don’t know how many he’s had today. We used to keep count out of concern for his wellbeing but suggesting the customers slow down with the drinks isn’t good for business so we stopped. “How’s the book coming along?”

Chuck is sat on one of the stools at the counter with his laptop out as always. Keyboard clicks are just another part of the soundscape in Angels; he’s in here so often, most of the day in fact. Comes in around 11am and doesn’t leave until we close up. He drinks a ridiculous amount during those hours so we like having him around.

 I’m not surprised when he doesn’t reply. He doesn’t really pay attention to anything but his book, ‘Unnatural’ and his caffeine levels. I’m jealous of the way he can just keep going without any of the stopping and randomly staring out the window or just general procrastinating I do.

“Oh my god! That’s the alpha werewolf!” exclaims Chuck after a few minutes, causing the other patrons to look around. That’s a part of his writing process I’m not so jealous of; he never knows what’s going to happen in his story until it does. We have tried asking him to be quieter, but he’s our best customer so we can’t really make him leave.

“Don’t mind him, he’s just a writer,” Mina reassures them with a smile. They nod and turn back to their drinks and friends. Aside from the coffee addiction, there’s another reason we encourage Chuck around here. Mina thinks that if he ever gets famous we could advertise that this is the café he did all his work in and that would get more customers. When she first mentioned this, I considered telling her about my dream, but I chickened out. She’d probably laugh like my family did.

 “Hey, look.” I nudge Mina and nod towards the large windows. They give a pretty good view of the street. “College kids. Looks like classes are over for today.”

“Yeah?” She doesn’t bother looking up from the till.

“Dean and Castiel will probably be in soon,” I explain.  “I’m going to get started on phase one.”

“Oh yeah, good idea,” she says. She finishes up serving the last customer in line and then looks around. “Right, go now, quickly, before we get the after class people coming in.”

“Sure thing,” I say as I nip out from behind the counter.

 **Step One:** Get them to notice each other

I’m the one who thought up how to do this and I’m quite proud of it. For once the lack of customers is a blessing because Chuck is the only one around who could be disturbed by my furniture rearranging and he’s deaf to the world as usual. Just as well, because moving around the coffee table and sofa by the windows Dean always sits at is a lot harder than I’m expected. The scraping noise of the sofa being turned is ridiculously loud.

“Little help?” I call out to Mina.

“You’ve got it!” she replies. “Anyway, I wouldn’t be much help.”

I grumble about this but she’s right, I doubt a tiny girl like her could do much with moving this stupidly heavy couch.

Finally, I get it where I want and start pushing the coffee table in front of it. Thankfully, this is much lighter and doesn’t take nearly as long. A few customers drift in and I get some odd looks, but I don’t care. One look at the second sofa convinces me it is fine where it is. Dean’s sofa is now facing away from the windows and to the back of the room. This puts Castiel’s seat directly in his line of sight. Or, at least the back of his seat, but I can soon fix that. I move his normal armchair, the one facing the back wall, and push it up to another table. Perfect. Now he’ll have no choice but to sit facing Dean. Admittedly, they’re across the room from each other but I’m sure they’re good looking enough to catch the other’s attention. Well, I’m not really a great judge of that, being into girls and all, Mina assures me they are. Anyway, the ‘eyes meeting across a crowded room’ trope is classic romance at its best. Not that Angels could be called crowded by anyone’s standards, but that will just make it easier for the eye meeting I guess?

I walk back behind the counter with pride. This matchmaking stuff is easy! Now all we have to do is to wait for the targets and they should be arriving any minute now.

“Refill please,” says Chuck, holding out his empty mug. He’s still typing with one hand and I can see his finger tapping on the mug handle. Not for the first time, I wonder how he can take that much coffee.

“Coming right up,” I reply as I take the cup from him. The machine whirrs and steam puffs out and the small cup fills. “Here you go.” Chuck grasps the mug and takes a deep gulp, wincing a little at the bitterness. I’m about to turn away, but then I notice something. He’s stopped typing. “You okay, Chuck?” I ask.

Chuck doesn’t seem to hear and continues staring at the back wall. Now I look closer, he’s looking even more unkempt than usual. His beard is scruffier and his hair is messier. He’s looking kind of pale and sunken too. I suddenly feel a stab of anxiety in my stomach.

“Chuck?” I repeat, louder this time.

That gets his attention and he jumps. “Yes?” he says too loudly.

“Are you feeling alright?”

“Yeah yeah I’m fine…” he says, running a hand through his hair distractedly. “Don’t worry.”

Mina notices us and comes over. “What’s the matter Chuck?”

“Nothing it’s all good!”

“You don’t look good,” replies Mina, frowning slightly. “When was the last time you ate?”

“Um…”

“Right, that’s it,” she says forcefully. She storms over to the little display case where we store the cakes and pastries Gabriel makes and picks out a large slice of chocolate cake on a little plate. Still fuming, she strides back over to us and puts it down in front of Chuck. “On the house. Eat it.” Reaching forwards, she slams shut his laptop, narrowly avoiding shutting in his fingers.

“But!” begins Chuck in protest.

“No buts. I can deal with you overdosing on coffee normally, but without food in your stomach it’ll just make you sick.” I’ve never seen Mina like this. The spark in her eyes is kind of frightening. And hot. She fishes in her skirt pocket and pulls out a ten dollar note and presses it into my hand.

“What?” I say, confused.

“Once Chuck has finished his cake, take him to the cheap store down the road and make sure he buys some proper food,” she instructs.

“I can’t take your money!” protests Chuck around a mouthful of cake.

“Fine, then pay me back when you’re well.”

For a second I think he’s going to argue, but if all his hours here have taught him anything, it’s that you can’t change Mina’s mind once it’s made up. He nods mutely and carries on with his cake.

“That was amazing,” I tell Mina once we go back to work.

She shrugs modestly. “Can’t have our best customer dying on us now, can we?” I love how she includes me when talking about Angels. I also love the sparkle of amusement in her voice.

“Are you sure it’s alright for me to skip out on you now though?” I ask.

“Yeah, just be quick,” she replies. “Anyway, it’s not like we’re drowning in orders right now.”

Just then, the door opens and Castiel walks in, wearing his long coat of course. Perfect. Step one is going fine so far. Mina shares a smile with me when I mention it.

I’m momentarily distracted as I draw a leaf with the milk in someone’s latte, and when I look up I almost drop it. “Sorry, here you go,” I mumble as I hurriedly hand over the drink to the customer and I dash around the counter to where Castiel is attempting to pull the moved armchair back to its rightful place.

“Stop!” I order, without really thinking. Castiel freezes and turns to look at me, puzzlement plastered across his face. “I, um… you can’t move that…”

“But it’s in the wrong place!” he protests. His big blue puppy eyes seem to ask why I would so cruelly deny him his spot.

“Yeah, I know, I’m sorry,” I say, remembering what Mina suggested about how he might be one of those people who can’t deal with change and praying I haven’t upset him. “It’s for, um… health and safety.” Good one me. Nobody’s going to mess with the good old Health and Safety line. I’m so damn smooth.

“Oh, OK,” Cas lets go of the armchair and goes to sit opposite his normal spot, facing exactly where we want him to. Thankfully, it appears Mina was wrong and he is able to sit somewhere else.

“It’ll be back to normal tomorrow,” I promise and smile brightly. He gets out his laptop and smiles back up at me. Not for the first time, I notice how pink his lips are. I hope Dean likes them.

“Sarah, Chuck’s finished his cake, can you take him to the store now?” calls Mina from the register.

“Sure thing!” I shout back and with one last look to confirm that Castiel is in place for Operation Cean, I walk over to Chuck. He’s got his laptop packed up in his bag and it’s slung over his shoulder. He looks at me with an awkward smile. “C’mon Chuck, let’s go grocery shopping,” I say, and lead him out the door.

 

“There, that should be enough for a short while,” I say, examining the contents of our shopping basket. It’s mainly cheap instant food but that’s better than nothing. I also managed to convince Chuck to leave alone the instant coffee and buy some apples instead.

“Are you sure I can’t get some instant coffee?” he asks petulantly.

“I think you need to lay off the coffee for a while,” I tell him as we join the queue.

“But my book…” he complains.

“You can still come to Angels to write,” I assure him. “We do have decaf and hot chocolate and stuff you know.”

“No, that’s not it,” he says miserably. “I need the coffee to get enough energy to write it down quick enough.”

“What do you mean?”

“The story just builds and builds in my head until I get it down in words,” he explains. “I get migraines if I don’t write quick enough. I’m still under the drinking age so I can’t try blocking it out like that; the only solution that seems to work is caffeine so I can type quicker.”

“Wow. That sucks.” Ok, maybe I’m stating the obvious here but there’s not a lot you can say to something like that. As we pass through the checkout and I pay for his food, the one thought sticking in my mind is that maybe I’m not so jealous of his writing skills after all.

 

 

“I’m back!” I announce as I slide back behind the counter. Then I mentally kick myself. Stupid, she can see that.

“Hey, did you get on alright?” replies Mina.

“Yeah, I set him up with some stuff, he promises to pay you back next week,” I tell her. A quick check of the moved sofa confirms that Dean is right where we want him, calmly sipping a mocha. “How’s Operation Cean stage one coming along?” I ask.

Mina sighs. “See for yourself. A bit of random looking around but no confirmed eye contact yet. Looks like stage one is a failure.”

“C’mon, it could still work!” I protest. I glare at Castiel who is still tapping away at his computer without even glancing around, willing him to look up and meet eyes with his soulmate across the room. Alright, maybe assuming they’re soulmates when they don’t even know each other is a bit much but there’s no point in being a romantic if you can’t be over the top about it.

Just then, Dean finishes up his drink and stands up, ready to go. I sigh a little. I’ll have to think of a new plan. He takes a step forwards and then stops, suddenly interested by something across the room. I follow his gaze and my heart lifts. He’s actually locked eyes with Castiel! I’m not sure who does it first, but they both end up doing this cute little smile thing and my romantic soul is just swooning over it, it’s so textbook perfect. I’m hoping that Dean will go over, but apparently the engineering student isn’t quite that brave and instead just leaves. Still, Castiel’s eyes follow him out the door and he’s looking long after Dean is gone, which is good enough in my books.

“Looks like Stage One is a success!” I whisper to Mina and she grins back.

 

It’s late when I finally get home and I’m exhausted. I think the family I lodge with are out at the moment because the house is still. After sorting myself a pot-noodle, I go up to the attic/my room and plonk myself down in front of the computer. Normally, this is when I procrastinate by messing around on tumblr and AO3 before finally getting to work on my great romance novel. Writing is hard and for months I’ve just been trying to figure out how my main characters will even meet, but tonight I’ve actually got an idea. What if it’s at a coffee shop? After ten minutes or so I realise something else, the entire thing would just work a bit better if there’s a meddling barista trying to set them up. I’m a bit worried about including this because isn’t there some law about not including real life stuff in books? But it’s not as if anyone will be able to tell…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right, hope that's good and all took a bit longer to write than expected.  
> I spent like an hour on Sims this morning building Angels for fun but also because it helps for me to be able to visualize this stuff but it turned out to be stupidly stressful because like 'WHAT COFFEE TABLES WOULD THEY HAVE???' and 'BUT IF I PUT THAT THERE WHERE WILL CHUCK SIT???' and 'WAIT IS THAT IN CAS AND DEAN'S LINE OF SIGHT???' so I don't think I'm ever trying that again.   
> Comments and kudos much appreciated! Thanks for reading! :D


	3. Step 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Operation Cean seems to be continuing well so it's time for step 2! And Gabriel finally shows up at work, to the annoyance of pretty much anyone. His baking skills are the only reason he has a job. Well... that and the incident from last year, but he does NOT want anyone talking about that.

Next morning I’m actually on time for work, which wins me a smile from Mina. Definitely worth losing a little sleep over if you ask me, even if I am a little fuzzy headed.   
“I’m going to move the chairs back to normal,” I tell her. “I promised Cas I would.”   
“Sure thing,” she replies. Her hair is pinned back with little slides today and it looks so cool. I’d tell her if the thought didn’t make my insides twist. Instead I just try to capture the image of her setting up the coffee make in my mind, like I do so often.  
When I realise that just standing around staring is probably more than a little creepy I jerk myself back to the present and pull Cas’s armchair back to his normal spot. I briefly consider sorting out the sofa but it is way too much effort for this time of day. Maybe once I’ve had my morning wake up. And thinking of that…  
“Freebie coffee?” I ask Mina from across the room.  
“Dream on,” she replies, shining up some of the mugs at the counter.  
“Not even for your favourite employee?” I wheedle, crossing over to the counter and leaning on it, chin resting on my hands.   
“Hmm… maybe…” Mina jokes, putting down the mug and moving so she’s opposite me. There’s a trace of a smile playing on her lips.   
“Sounds promising.”   
“You’d have to convince me,” she says, mimicking my pose on her side. Even though I know it’s just my imagination, I can almost convince myself that there’s a hint of seduction in her voice and that gives me courage to do what I would never normally dare to even consider.  
“Well…” I say, looking up at her through my lashes. There’s not much space between us. How long would it take to lean across? “If you won’t let me for free I can offer… alternative payment…” I close a tiny fraction of the space between us and run my teeth gently over my lower lip. They’re always doing stuff like that in fics; maybe it’ll work in real life. I can hope at least.  
I swear I can almost hear Mina’s breath catch a little. She shifts a smidgen closer. “Hmm…” she’s smiling properly now but her eyes are locked intensely on mine. “You are my favourite employee I suppose…”   
“I thought I was!” complains a loud and familiar voice. We jump apart guiltily and I almost lose my footing, only managing to grab onto the counter at the last minute. Standing in the doorway, his frame almost hidden by three large cardboard boxes, is the other barista, Gabriel. He’s smirking as usual. I’d forgotten he was working today. “You alright there, Sarah?”  
“I’m fine Gabe,” I growl, regaining my standing.  
“Shame,” he comments with a grin. “If you died I’d be the favourite employee again!”  
“Shut up,” I huff and cross my arms. He pouts when I don’t even smile at his stupid eyebrow wiggle thing he walks over to the cake shelves and puts down the boxes in front of it.   
“Ouch,” he mutters, shaking out his arms and flexing his fingers.  
“Don’t be such a wimp,” reprimands Mina. She seems unaffected by the interruption, probably because Gabriel wasn’t actually interrupting anything, just my overactive romantic mind. That doesn’t stop me being annoyed at him though.  
“I’m not a wimp! These cakes are heavy!” he protests.   
“Sure they are,” Mina rolls her eyes at me and I smile weakly. If Gabriel wasn’t such a good baker he’d have been fired long ago. As it is, he’s only still in a job because of some unusual circumstances.  
“Hey Gabe, if you’re not a wimp, how about helping me out with that sofa? Or is it too big for you?” I say, smirking a little. He’s about the same height as Mina and it drives him mad, so the easiest way to get him to do anything is suggest he’s too small. Or bribe him with sugary stuff.   
“Course I can,” he scoffs, running a hand a through his golden hair. He reaches into his waistcoat pocket, pulls out one of his seemingly unlimited lollipops and defiantly sticks it in his mouth. “I can do it all by myself actually!” he declares and makes a big show of pushing his sleeves further up his arms. Mina and I exchange snickers.  
“Sure, I’ll let you get on with it then,” I say. “Now, how about that coffee, Mina?”  
“40% off,” she decides and I’m not going to argue with that discount twice in a row, even if I would rather pay with kisses. 

“What on earth are you doing Gabriel?” asks Castiel as he walks in, shaking his head at the sight of his older brother bright red in the face and straining to push the couch. Did I mention Gabe and Cas are related? Well, step brothers, but they grew up together, more or less. Gabriel is about 2 years older I think, and a heck of a lot shorter, to his eternal annoyance and everyone else’s amusement.   
“I’m… moving… a… couch…” Gabriel grunts between shoves. It’s taken him so long I could have done it by now, but by letting him handle it I get to enjoy my coffee in peace and arrange all the cakes he’s baked on the shelves, one of my favourite jobs.   
“Oh,” says Castiel and walks up to his usual spot. Then he pauses and looks around almost surreptitiously, before quickly stepping around the table to the other chair, the one that means he can see the rest Angels rather than just the wall. For a second I’m confused, until I realise what this means. Operation Cean is working! I need to move onto phase 2.  
Step 2: Initiate contact  
Luckily I’ve got a brilliant idea how. “The usual?” I ask.  
“Please,” he replies, getting out his work from his satchel.   
“You want me to bring it over, Cas?” We sometimes do when it looks like he’s got a lot of work to be getting on with, and from the looks of his piles of paper replacing the laptop, this is one of those days.  
“Yes thank you,” he says, briefly looking up before starting to write.   
“Ok sure, wait a minute.” He’s not listening anyway.   
“Did it!” exclaims Gabriel suddenly. He stands back from the sofa and coffee table and rests his hands on his hips triumphantly. “Told ya I could.”  
“Good for you, you proved you have the strength of a little girl,” Mina says dryly and I grin. His reaction is predictable as ever.   
“THAT WAS ONE TIME OK!” squawks Gabriel, spinning around to face us and going red in the face. Mina and I start giggling. “Don’t remind Cassie of that, he’s nearly forgotten!” he adds in a quieter voice, eyes straying nervously to his little brother who is still diligently working away in his corner.   
“I doubt any of us are going forget that,” I point out. “It was pretty memorable, seeing you all dressed up like that.”  
“You didn’t even recognise me, if it wasn’t for”-  
“We know,” interrupts Mina. “You would still be causing havoc around here if only Cas hadn’t stopped you, that meddling kid, etcetera.”  
“I wasn’t causing havoc! It was few well planned pranks!” protests Gabe. Recognising the frequently repeated argument that’s looming, I retreat to the coffee machine. He can’t really touch Mina seeing as she’s his boss but I’m considered fair game and this line of conversation almost always ends with the threat of future pranks hanging over me. Luckily, they’re interrupted by the door opening and Dean walking in.   
“Heya Deano!” Gabriel greets him brightly, probably glad of an excuse to get off the topic of lasts year’s prank spree and the crossdressing incident.   
Dean sighs. “Hello Gabriel.” Gabriel isn’t put off by the cool reception; I think he knows he kinda deserves it, and he beams as he skips back behind the counter.   
“Expresso please,” Dean says wearily. Looks like he had a late night cramming session again.   
“Sure thing, kiddo,” replies Gabriel cheerily. “Coming right up!”  
“Actually, Dean, why don’t you sit down and I’ll bring it over!” I interrupt suddenly, putting a hand on Gabe’s shoulder to stop him going to the machine.   
“Sure, thanks,” Dean says and gives me a tired smile.   
Gabriel gives me an odd look, normally I encourage him working, but doesn’t say anything and gets on with making the expresso as I finally start on Cas’s drink. I know, I know, I’m a terrible barista for leaving him waiting so long, but there’s no way he’ll actually notice when he’s so absorbed in his work.   
“Hey, the couch is back to normal,” says Dean from by the window.   
“Yeah, I moved it earlier with my strong muscles,” says Gabriel, flexing his arm and winking. “Piece of cake.” Mina, Dean and I all roll our eyes. We’re accustomed to his constant flirting; he doesn’t mean anything by it. For all the bravado, he can be pretty shy with the people he actually likes, so if he’s being excessively loud and showy you’re safe. That’s the general rule anyway.   
“It was good where it was,” comments Dean, and now I notice he’s angling his body oddly, almost as if to make it easier to see the back of the café… I smile a little to myself, it’s so cute!   
“I’m sure Gabe would move it back for you!” I say sweetly.   
“Oh hey, would you look at that, the coffee is ready!” exclaims Gabriel quickly. He picks up the mugs and makes a move to bring them to Dean, but I step in front of him.   
“Let me,” I say quietly and take the mugs off him. Again, he gives me an odd look, but complies. For a second I think he’s about to ask why, but then the door opens and a group of customers straggle in so he’s distracted and I can slip out.  
“Here you go,” I say to Dean, carefully putting down Castiel’s cappuccino on the table.  
“Thanks,” he says, not looking up from his book and I smile at a smooth job well done, before bringing his expresso over to Castiel. He doesn’t even look up and I’m back behind the counter in no time.  
“I think you-“ begins Gabriel, but I quickly shush him.  
“Get on with serving the customers, Gabriel,” I order.  
“But!”  
“Trust me,” I say firmly before turning to whoever’s next in line. “Hey there, what would you like?”  
I’ve made so many drinks by now I can run through several customers on autopilot, so while I’m smiling and taking coins and pouring coffee I’m concentrating on Dean. He noticed I’d bought the wrong drink around the time when I got back to the counter, and since Castiel is the only customer sat down surely he should be able to work out whose it is. I’m grateful for the sudden pick up in customers otherwise he might just give back the drink to me, but since all three of us are busy he’s going to have to sort it out himself. Out of the corner of my eye I watch him looking over at Cas nervously. Why won’t he just hurry up and go over already? Almost as soon the thought crosses my mind, he takes a deep breath and stands up, taking the mug with him. Castiel hasn’t even touched Dean’s coffee and I honestly don’t think he’d notice that it’s an expresso even if he did take a sip; he’s so absorbed in his sheets of paper. Between making a hot chocolate and counting out a customer’s change I can see Dean making his way over to Castiel and I grin to myself. I’d tell Mina if I didn’t know she’ll have already seen. Nothing in Angels gets past her, or at least not for long. Satisfied that step 2 is working out perfectly, I turn back to the coffee machine and busy myself with making another drink.   
A sudden shout spins me back around. Cas is standing back from the table, his papers stained brown by the coffee leaking from the spilled mug and Dean is frantically trying to mop it up with some napkins from the next door table.  
“My work!” exclaims Castiel. “You’ve ruined it!”  
“I am so sorry!” says Dean as he grabs more napkins. “I was only trying to give back your coffee and I guess I tripped… Oh god, is it alright?”  
“Stop it, you’re making it worse,” snaps Castiel.   
“I’m really sorry…” repeats Dean miserably, pulling on the hem of his plaid shirt. “I’ll make it up to you somehow…”  
“I think the best thing would be if you just leave me alone,” Castiel replies. He’s staring mournfully at the wet papers and I really hope it’s nothing too important. The impatient cough of a customer makes me realise I’ve stopped and I’m staring at them, so I jerk back to attention.  
“Gabriel, go and help your brother clean up that mess,” I order and he goes without even arguing, a rare event for him. Dean has retreated to his couch and is gathering up his things. He leaves the money for his drink on the table ad walks out the door with one last regretful look back at Castiel, who’s still trying to save his papers.

“Does this mean the matchmaking is over?” I ask Mina once Castiel has left. The earlier rush has quietened down a little but there’s still a more or less slow stream of people coming. Gabriel has disappeared off to the break room for something, probably retrieving candy from one of his secret stores. I’ve stumbled across one or two by mistake before and they are quite the sight. I don’t think that much sugar in one place should be legal.  
“Don’t know,” she replies. “That was pretty bad though…”  
“Yeah,” I agree. “Spilling coffee all over someone’s homework isn’t exactly the best way to do things… but maybe it’s just something they could laugh about another time?”  
Mina shakes her head. “I though Cas was gonna cry or something…”  
“Who’s making Cas cry?” asks Gabriel as he walks jauntily out of the break room. As I suspected, he’s got a fresh lolly in his mouth and I’m certain I can see the tell-tale bulges of sweets stuffed into his waistcoat pockets. “Can I join in?”  
“We were just talking about when Dean spilled that coffee earlier,” I say quickly. I don’t think it’s a good idea to let Gabriel know what we’re planning and Mina agreed we’re not to tell him. He’ll either ruin it on purpose just to mess with us and Castiel or attempt to help by doing something wildly inappropriate that will put them both off Angel’s for ever.   
“Yeah that was weird,” he comments, sucking thoughtfully on his lolly.  
“Uh huh, I didn’t think Dean was that clumsy,” Mina agrees. “And since you’re not doing anything, there are tables over there that need clearing.”  
“Yes Boss,” he grumbles and gives her a mock salute. He starts heading out and then pauses. “But…” he says, slowly wheeling round to face us with one finger held up. “The odd thing was Sarah mixing up the drinks. I mean, it’s not exactly difficult to tell the difference, is it? Cassie has those silly wings on his and all.”  
“Get on with your work Gabe,” I say, avoiding his gaze.  
“Will do!” he says. “Once you tell me what’s going on with you two.”  
“There’s nothing!” I say too quickly. He cocks an eyebrow then smirks.   
“Oh I get it now,” he says, golden eyes glinting. “But fine, if you don’t want to tell me!” He throws up his hands and turns away to finally clear up the tables. Mina and I exchange confused looks. How on earth could he know about our matchmaking plan?

The rest of the day was uneventful, apart from the noticeable absence of Chuck and having to explain what had happened to Gabe. I half expected him to laugh or make some inappropriate joke, but he actually seemed worried about the guy and mentioned something about checking on him this evening. I think he’s got a soft spot for the guy, no idea why though. Oh yeah, and Mina and Gabriel didn’t stop teasing me until about an hour after Jo had left just because I accidentally spent most of the time she was in here chatting while she sat up at the side of the counter. Not my fault, she was actually giving me great advice about how to get Dean and Cas together. Obviously I didn’t tell her that was my goal, just drops some general hints about having ‘boy trouble’ (good one me) and she’s a cheerful expert on the subject. Unfortunately that also reinforced my belief that she’ll never be into me, but a romantic can dream right? Um, not that I like her like that, as I told Gabe and Mina many times she’s just one of my favourite customers! Neither Dean nor Castiel turned up again, so I’m hoping that they’re not put off Angels for ever. Maybe they just don’t want to risk running into each other until things have cooled down a little.

Anyway, I’m exhausted like always when I finally get to my room, but I made myself promise to write a little every night so I force myself to sit down at the computer and fire up the Word document. Hmm… So they meet in a coffee shop, but then what? I decide to just continue going and see where the scene goes.

It’s an hour later and I think I’m done for the night. In the end one of them accidentally spills coffee on the other, but that’s ok, I’m not copying what happened today because the barista didn’t mix up drinks on purpose and it was a chai tea and a hot chocolate, which makes it different, right? Well, it’s probably good enough. I’m sure I can only see the similarities because I’m there for both of them, nobody else will be able to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took so long I'm in the middle of gishwhes at the moment!   
> No idea why this chapter is longer hardly anything happens but oh well.  
> Also Gabe wasn't meant to turn up properly until chapter 7 but I like him so surprise early Gabe :D Also now I can do more sabriel and more about how he got hired in the first place because for some reason I find it amusing.   
> Anyone you feel should turn up in Angels? Let me know!   
> That's all for now, comment/kudos much appreciated :)


	4. Step 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Operation Cean maybe isn't as over as I thought, Gabe is acting weird, Mina seems kinda jumpy this morning and I have no idea why any of this is happening.

 

 

 

“Morning Mina!” I’m actually on time again today and Mina’s smile is even brighter than yesterday’s when she looks up and sees me. Sure, I could have done with that extra sleep but real Mina is still 100 times better than dream Mina. Uh, not that I dream about her or anything creepy like that… I meant it theoretically.

“Hey,” she replies. “You can have 40% off coffee if you want.”

“I, uh, thanks,” I say, blinking a little in surprise. She’s never offered the discount without me asking before but I’m not going to argue with it. “Let me just dump my stuff.”

“In the break room,” she reminds me with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah, yeah, course,” I mutter and make my way there. Why did she say about the discount first? Maybe she was hoping to avoid a repeat of yesterday with my clumsy flirting? Ugh, I don’t know. It’s too early to be thinking about the reasons behind stupid stuff like that.

When I open the door to the break room I’m just about to dump my bag on the chair like I normally do, but I stop. There’s a scrap of pink paper on it for some reason. Putting my bag down on the floor, I reach out and pick it up. Now I’m holding it, I can see it’s a badly cut out heart shape, childishly coloured in pink with crayon or something like that. Weird. I wonder how it got here? Maybe someone left it for Mina, but the only people who are meant to come in here are me, Mina, Gabe and Mina’s aunt (who’s never around so doesn’t really count)

Hmm… Mina isn’t the type to leave soppy things like this around. It wasn’t me. Mina’s aunt isn’t around. So… Gabe? Nah, there’s no reason he’d do something like this. His style is much more obvious and anyway, it’s not like he fancies me or Mina. So not him either. I guess it must have just got caught up on something and ended up here by mistake. Stupid Gabe, he was meant to clean Angels up last thing.

When I leave the break room and head straight for the coffee machine, I notice Mina’s giving me an odd look. “What?” I ask. “Is there something on my face?”

“No! It’s nothing…” she says. She’s holding her special mug, the one she bought from home and always uses for her drinks. “Did you um… did you touch my mug?”

“No? Why would you think that?” My coffee is done so remove the cup and take a long sip. Perfect. I’m a pretty damn good barista if I do say so myself.

“It’s nothing,” Mina repeats, looking down into her mug and I swear she’s blushing.

“Best get set up for the day,” I say as I open the till and pop in my money for the drink.

Mina nods, looking thoughtful.

“You alright?” I ask, stepping closer to her.

“Fine!” she jumps slightly. Something must have unnerved her but if she won’t say I don’t want to push her. Instead, I just sort of gently pat her shoulder as I walk past. I have no idea if it helped. Oh god, what if she thinks I’m really weird now? Do people normally pat people on the shoulder? I swear I’ve seen people do it before but maybe that was just guys? Ugh I suck at this, whatever ‘this’ is.

“Heya guys!” Gabriel bursts in through the door, only carrying one box today. “I’m not interrupting anything am I?” He winks suggestively and I blush a little at the memory of yesterday morning. Trust him to wind me up first thing.

“Your uniform’s scruffy,” I say after throwing a cursory glance in his direction. It is most days really, but today is worse than usual. His waistcoat hangs open, his top button is undone on his shirt, his tie hangs loosely around his neck and his hair has all the signs of bedhead with nothing more than a hand ran through it to try and sort it out.

“Not my fault!” he protests, jauntily crossing the room to the baked goods display case. He begins to unpack all the cakes and pastries he baked last night and their heavenly scent fills the room. That doesn’t excuse the messy uniform though.

“How is it not your fault?” I ask, walking over to hover behind him as he places the desserts on the shelves.

“I was busy last night with a ‘friend’,” he says suggestively, turning around to give me a lewd wink. I roll my eyes and cross my arms.

“We both know that’s not true.”

“I’m wounded!” he exclaims, clasping a hand to his heart and looking genuinely hurt, if it wasn’t for the mischief sparkling in his eyes.

“We all know for a fact that the closest you ever got to sleeping with someone was when you went on that date with me,” interjects Mina. “And that’s only because you ended up unconscious in an ambulance while I sat there.”

I frown slightly. I don’t like remembering that Gabe went on a date with her once, even if it was ages ago and I’m pretty sure Mina mainly did it because she was short on cash and wanted to see that film. I don’t think Gabe likes being reminded of it either really; judging from the way he flushes deeply and busies himself with the baking display. My frown changes to a small smirk when I notice I can see his ears are red even from behind.

“Just because you overslept and had to rush here doesn’t give you an excuse to look like that,” Mina says, walking around the counter to us. “Stand up.”

“Just a second,” replies Gabe, still leaning into the display. “There, done.” He retreats out of the case and stands up to face Mina. A flash of annoyance crosses his face when once again he’s reminded that he’s the same tiny height as her.

“Sort out your uniform,” orders Mina, looking critically at it.

“Ok, ok…” grumbled Gabe and starts to do up his top button. His tie knot is a tight little mess so he has to pull it all undone. He begins to start tying it and then stops and looks around a little desperately.

“What’s the matter?” asks Mina.

“I just um…” Gabe trails off and starts trying to do his tie again. After another 2 failed attempts I realise the problem.

“You can’t do it without a mirror, can you?” I say, but it’s not really a question. His blush answers it anyway.

“For goodness sake,” sighs Mina and reaches forwards to grab his tie. She begins deftly doing it up, ignoring his mumbled protests. I feel a stab of jealousy; doing up the tie or similar of the loved one is a classic romantic trope and yet it has to happen to Gabriel, who wouldn’t know a trope if it hit him in the face.

“Thanks,” mutters Gabe once she step back and he begins to do up his waistcoat. He even runs his fingers through his hair a few more times which brings it back to something vaguely presentable.

“Better,” says Mina with a nod. Then she notices something. “Gabriel, what did you do to your nametag?”

He grins. “I improved it!” I have a closer look and give an involuntary small laugh. He’s crossed out the G in ‘Gabe’ and replaced with a B, scrawled on in sharpie. “Pretty cool, huh?”

Mina and I both roll our eyes but share a smile. There’s just something about him that makes you want to smile even when he’s driving you crazy and he’s got a better chance with your crush than you, I think it’s to do with the boundless energy pouring out of him and shining in his golden eyes.

A rapping on the door makes me look around. Dean is standing outside, peering in through the window. I check my watch and realise that we’re 2 minutes past opening time! Mina must have forgotten to turn the volume up on her phone so we’d notice the alarm, but that’s not like her at all.

“I’ll get it!” I say and open up the door for Dean. “Hey, sorry, we were just about to open.”

“Oh good I’m not too early then,” he says, stepping in and looking around the room a little nervously.

“You alright?” I ask. “You seem kinda flustered.”

“Ah no yeah I’m fine,” he says, rubbing the back of his head. “I was just wondering if uh, I could ask you some questions?”

“Sure thing,” I say, more than a little confused. What’s going on with him?

“Awesome.” He fiddles with the lapel of that leather jacket he almost always wears for a second, before looking back up at me. “So, uh, I don’t know if you remember, but yesterday? When I spilled some coffee on that poor guy’s work?”

I nod. “Yeah I remember.”

“Well… I wanna make it up to him a little. So, uh, does he come in here often?”

Wait, does this mean Operation Cean is back on? I know I shouldn’t jump to conclusions, but I’m a romantic so I do anyway. Clearly he’s in love with Castiel already and is trying to find out more so he can find him and apologise properly! This is great!

I try to keep my cool, even though inside I’m squealing over the romance. “Yeah, he’s here almost every day. Name’s Castiel Novak, always sits in the corner there. English major.”

Dean looks surprised. “You know him?”

The door opens and we step aside to let some costumers in. I know Mina will want me back at the machines but I’m doing important work for Angels’ future!

“Yeah,” I reply. “He’s one of our regulars, like you. I guess you never noticed him since you’re on opposite sides of the room but you tend to come at around the same times I think.”

“Awesome,” he says again, smiling. “So, would you happen to know what his favourite drink is?”

“Of course,” I say, swelling slightly with pride. If there’s one thing I know, that’s drinks. “He normally has a cappuccino, but his absolute favourite is the large vanilla mocha with marshmallows, but he only gets it occasionally.” Then I realise it’s probably against company policy to tell customers about other customers, even if it is for a good cause. Oh well. “Why do you wanna know?”

“I was think I could pre order his favourite drink for him and write an apology note,” says Dean nervously and my heart just melts at the adorableness. “That ok?”

“Course!” I reply. “I’ve probably got some paper if you want.” I reach into my pocket where I keep bits of paper for handy writing stuff down and bring out the scrap of paper I’d found in the break room. I guess I pocketed it without thinking. Maybe not the most subtle of things but I don’t have anything else.

“Awesome, thanks,” he says, smiling gratefully. He either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care that it’s pink and heart shaped. I lean across to our stationary display and give him a pen, after getting him to promise he’ll return it, and then I return to my place behind the counter.

“Operation Cean is back on,” I whisper to Mina. She flashes me a smile and a thumbs up.

“What did you say?” asks Gabe.

“Nothing!” we both chorus together and giggle. Gabe gives us an odd look, then a knowing smirk. I’m mildly unsettled by that, but before I can think about it anymore the next customer is ordering and I have to turn bac k to them.

 

“Can you give this to him?” asks Dean, handing me the heart shaped paper. He’s neatly written out a little note on it, like he said he would.

“Sure,” I say, taking the scrap and putting it in my pocket. “I’ll make the drink when he comes in.”

“Awesome.” Have I mentioned that’s Dean’s favourite word? He says it a lot. I smile as he hands over the money for Cas’s drink along with his own. Soon as he’s back at his sofa I can examine the note and see how it’s going to help Operation Cean.

 

**Step 3: Suggest attraction.**

 

“Hmm…” It’s short while later. Dean has left and it’s quietened down a bit in Angels and although Castiel still hasn’t turned up, I’m sure he will soon, but I still haven’t figured out how to change the note which currently reads:

‘Castiel,

Sorry I spilled coffee on your work.

Hope you like this apology drink.

Dean’

It’s not exactly romantic Shakespeare.

“What’s up Sarah?” I look up and realise with warmth in my chest that it’s Jo. She’s come and sat at the counter and is looking at me with concern.

“Not much,” I say. “How are you?”

“I’m good thanks!” she smiles. “You look kinda down, more boy trouble?”

“You could say that…” I agree.

“Who is it?” she asks, immediately flaring up. “I’ll kick their ass! Nobody touches my friend and…”

“Woah, no need for that!” I interrupt, feeling a pleasant twist in my stomach at ‘my friend.’ “No, I was just wondering how to write a romantic note.”

“Oh,” says Jo, calming down a little. I have to admit I’m relieved. She’s training to be in the police force and can easily take down anyone she feels like, so don’t be fooled by the perky blonde exterior. That girl is badass. The last time she got worked up in Angels ended was when Gabriel was going through his prank spree and is actually part of the reason he works here. “So,” she continues. “You want advice?”

“Sure,” I say. Much as it pains me to admit, I’m not so good at the real side of romance and what works in my head has never quite managed to transfer to real life.

“Right,” Jo says, resting her chin on her hand thoughtfully. “I’d say the main important things are little kisses, using ‘dear’ and ‘love’ at the beginning and end, cute doodles and uh… probably something that invokes a reply.”

I nod, this all makes sense. “Thanks!” I say. “That’s a big help.”

Jo smiles. “No problem.”

“Sarah, stop chatting and get on with making Jo’s drink,” orders Mina suddenly.

“Sorry,” I say.

“It’s ok,” Jo says. “I was just giving her dating advice!”

“Really?” says Mina, looking surprised. Ok, wow, rude. I could have loads of dates if I wanted. Probably.

Jo asks for a hot chocolate and while I’m working the machine Mina slides up to me. “Who are you asking for advice about?” she asks. “I thought you said you didn’t like anyone.”

“It’s for Operation Cean,” I hiss, careful not to let Gabe overhear. Luckily he’s off clearing tables at the moment. “She was giving advice on how to romantify the note.”

“Oh…” says Mina slowly. Then she frowns a little. “Is romantify even a word?”

“Should be if it’s not,” I reply and bring Jo’s drink over to her, after drawing a little heart in the foam of course (hey I have love on the brain alright that’s all) She receives it with a bright smile as always.

“Look who it is,” says Mina, nudging me. I look towards the door and see Castiel walking in.

“Darn, I haven’t finished the note yet,” I reply, nervously tapping the pocket it’s in. “I’ll do it now.” Quickly, I whip out the little heart and grab a pen. Remembering Jo’s words, I carefully add to Dean’s words in as close as I can get to his handwriting. Luckily it’s fairly neat and plain, so within a minute the note reads:

‘Dear Castiel,

I’m so Sorry I spilled coffee on your work.

I Hope you like this apology drink. I heard it’s your favourite J

From Dean xxx

PS: maybe you’d like to grab a coffee together some time?’

I add a little drawing of a heart with angel wings on the side and then I’m satisfied with my work. Unless you knew Dean’s handwriting really well, I’m pretty sure nobody could tell it’s partially forged. After giving Mina a quick glance and receiving a thumbs up of approval, I get to work making the drink that Dean ordered for Castiel.

“Gabe, could you take this over to your brother?” I say. I’m just about to add the normal angel wings Cas likes when I stop and think for a second. When I do add the wings, they’re either side of a little heart, just like the cute doodle I added to Dean’s note.

“Sure thing,” he says, taking the mug and saucer off me. He doesn’t notice the pink note slipped underneath the mug. “But wait, I swear he hasn’t ordered anything yet?”

I avoid the question by turning back to the customer who just walked in. He’s ridiculously tall, with shaggy brown hair. He seems vaguely familiar, but I can’t figure out where I know him from. Maybe he’s come in here before.

“Hey, what can I get you?” I say brightly.

“Uh hi yeah I’d like um… a cappuccino to go please,” the customer says and smiles a little nervously. I don’t know why but I instantly like him, he just seems to be one of those people.

“Sure thing,” I say, smiling back and when I turn around to the coffee machines I also smack into Gabe, who’s still standing where I last left him. He’d been so quiet I hadn’t noticed him. “Hey, I told you to go give that to Cas!” I say sternly. His eyes are focussed on something behind me but then they snap back to attention.

“Oh yeah sure…” he says and quickly dodges out from behind the counter. Weird. Oh well.

“Here you go.” I hand the customer his drink in its cardboard cup. He takes off the lid to let it cool as soon as he hands me the money and laughs a bit.

“It looks like antlers!” he exclaims.

“What does?” I ask.

“The milk pattern you drew.” I’m a bit miffed at that, I think I was doing the wings, but I guess I must have slipped without noticing.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” I say. “If you come back another time I’ll do a better pattern.”

He laughs again. “It’s fine, I just found it funny because all my friends call me Moose.”

I grin. “I can see why! Fine then, Moose, next time you come back I’ll make sure I draw some more antlers for you.”

“Sounds like a plan,” he agrees. “And it’s Sam, by the way, though I don’t mind Moose either.”

Sam leaves just as Gabriel returns from Castiel’s table. “He seemed pretty happy with that drink,” remarks Gabe.

“Who, Sam?” I ask, confused for a second.

“No, Cas I mean,” says Gabe. “Who’s Sam?”

“That guy,” I say, nodding at the door. Sam’s just walking through it, taking a gulp of his coffee.

“Sam huh…” Gabe murmurs, watching Sam leave.

I’m about to ask him what he means by that but I’m interrupted by Castiel coming up to the counter. “Heya Cas!” says Mina brightly. “Did you like your drink?”

“Yes thank you,” he replies and he’s smiling. He doesn’t even remember to correct her on his name. “I would to like to um…” he throws a nervous look towards his big brother, but Gabe is still staring out of the window vacantly for some reason. “Could I please buy a drink for Dean?”

“Sure thing!” Mina says. “Sarah, could you grab something for him to write with?” While I do that, Mina tells Castiel about Dean, like his favourite drink and when he likes to come in and which course he’s taking at the college. Castiel listens eagerly with his bright blue eyes wide. He’s adorable, really.

“Thank you,” he says as he takes a pen and a scrap of paper I tore off the noticeboard. He quickly scribbles a short message and then hands them back, along with the payment for Dean’s drink. I quickly read what he wrote and immediately start planning on how step 3 can work on it. At least I’ve got until the afternoon to do it.

“Goodbye Gabriel,” says Castiel as he passes by him on his way out. Gabe doesn’t even register it until after Cas has left and looks around in confusion. I wonder what’s up with him today? He’s acting kinda weird but at least it means he’s quieter, so Mina and I can get on with Operation Cean in peace.

 

“Hey, Dean, no need to pay,” I say as Dean gets out his money after I hand him his coffee. It’s now the afternoon and I’ve been looking forwards to this all day.

“Huh?” he says, confusion clouding his green eyes. I reach into my waistcoat pocket, pull out the (slightly amended) note Castiel wrote (with secret help from me and Mina of course) and hand it to Dean. His face lights up once he unfolds it realises what it is. “Awesome,” he says under his breath.

“Say anything nice?” I ask innocently. I know exactly what it says of course, but never hurts to keep up appearances.

“Uh yeah, he’s saying thanks for the drink and not to worry about the work because he fixed it and also uh… that he’d love to get coffee together some time,” Dean tells me, reading through the note again and smiling. He doesn’t tell me about the little ‘xxx’ at the end or the little heart doodles Mina added.

“So, are you going to?” I say, trying to sound casual but barely able to contain my excitement at the thought of operation Cean going so well.

“I think I will,” decides Dean and I give him an encouraging smile. He takes his drink and goes to sit down in his normal seat, looking up expectantly every time someone walks in. It’s cute, like something right out of a fic.

 

“Sorry Dean, we’re gonna have to close up,” Mina tells him two hours and several cups of coffee later. Cas still hasn’t turned up, much to everyone’s disappointment. Well, mine, Mina and Dean’s at least.

“Oh yeah, sure,” he says, standing up. He sounds kinda dejected and Mina takes pity on him.

“I can take a note to Cas if you want?” she suggests. “Just in case you don’t see him when you’re next in?”

Dean smiles gratefully and while Mina sets about finding him something to write on, Gabe and I start packing up for the night. As usual, Gabe is in charge of cleaning out the cakes and pastries that won’t keep, in addition to general cleaning. I do the bathroom, which is fun as normal. Not. When I emerge, Gabe looks up from the cakes case and stands when he sees me.

“Sarah, I’ve got something for you!” he says, bouncing over. He’s holding on of the little plastic tubs we use to store food in.

“Yeah what?” I ask suspiciously, narrowing my eyes at him. It’s never a good idea to just accept gifts from a trickster, even if he is largely ‘reformed’ as he claims.

“Relax,” he drawls when he sees my expression. “It’s not from me, Mina just told me to give it to you. It was gonna go off so we can’t sell it.”

“Oh, thanks,” I say, accepting the tub.

“No problemo!” says Gabe brightly, bouncing on his heels a little. He seems to have perked up from his earlier quietness and I’m about to ask what happened when I’m distracted by Mina walking out the break room.

“I picked up your bag,” she says and tosses it to me.

“Thanks!” I say as I catch it.

“Time for you guys to go home,” she says.

“Yeah, see ya,” Gabe says and speeds out the door.

“Bye Sarah,” Mina says.

“Yeah, bye,” I reply. There’s an awkward pause where neither of us seem to know exactly what we’re doing but then I just walk out quickly before I can do anything stupid. To my surprise, Gabriel is waiting outside and he seems surprised to see me, though why I’ve no idea.

“Why are you still here?” I ask.

“Just, uh, checking my favourite co-worker is alright?” he replies sheepishly.

“Um… ok…” I say. He really has been weird today but I need to get home and I really don’t have the time to deal with whatever weirdness an idiot like him is doing. “Bye Gabriel.”

“Bye!” He starts to walk away but then stops and turns around. “Oh, and don’t forget to eat that cake Mina picked for you!”

I thought he said Mina only let me have it because it was going off? Ugh, who knows what that guy ever means? I put all thoughts of him out of my mind because I’ve got some good ideas about what I can add to my novel tonight. And I swear it’s only a coincidence that it involves the baristas in the coffee shop adding to the notes passes between the couple!

****

[drawing of Gabriel with scruffy uniform](http://stoprighttheremywaywardson.tumblr.com/post/125847163539/baristagabriel-from-my-fic-meddling-baristas-save)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok wow that one was long I have no idea why. It's like 4000 words the others are like 2500 but oh well :/   
> Took me ages to write this but it was quite fun :)   
> Hope you like it thanks for reading!   
> Comments and kudos much appreciated!


	5. Last Year's Prank Spree

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel is annoying again, Moose visits again and we annoy Gabe with reminders of last year, again.

Saturday. Finally. I’m still working today, but Angels opens half an hour later than usual so I can have a bit more sleep. And I need it after last night, when my brain kept me awake with whizzing thoughts. Who’d have thought a stupid cake Gabe handed to me could keep me awake until after midnight? It wouldn’t normally, but this cake was from Mina. It had a little note attached that read ‘from Mina xxx’. And it was in the shape of a heart!

Right, so maybe that by itself shouldn’t mean much, but together with the note and her specifically asking Gabe to give it to me, even someone who isn’t as romance obsessed as me would notice something’s going on there! The question that kept me awake was what exactly that ‘something’ is. What if I’m completely wrong and it’s a totally platonic heart cake? Or what if the cake shape is just a coincidence? Or what if it isn’t? Ugh, things are so much simpler in fics where you know of course it’s romantic, but real life is annoyingly more confusing.

 

By the time I get to Angels I realise I still have no idea how I’m going to act around Mina. I settle for just pretending it didn’t happen and open the door. The first thing I notice is Mina. Admittedly, that’s not unusual, but today I notice her for a different reason. She’s bought along her little portable speaker that’s shaped like a rabbit and she’s singing along to some song I don’t recognise, but it’s still beautiful to listen to, or at least it would be if it wasn’t for the accompanying racket. To my surprise, Gabe is here before me and he’s joining in the best he can, dancing along and clutching an imaginary microphone. He doesn’t seem to know the words, or the tune, or have any grasp of rhythm but the sight of them rocking out makes me smile.

“Why so happy?” I ask, raising my voice to be heard.

“No reason!” calls back Mina, effortlessly changing between singing and replying. She smiles and I grin back.

“I’ll go put my stuff in the back,” I say, joining them behind the counter.

Mina turns the volume down a little and asks, “Could you pass my mug?”

“I got it!” yells Gabriel and grabs it off the side. He presses it into my hands. “There you go, give it to her.”

“Uh… ok…” I reply. He’s literally the same distance away from her as I am but oh well. I give Mina her mug on my way past and as I’m entering the break room I hear her saying “Did you put something…” to Gabe.

 

Huh, that’s odd. There’s a little pink flower on my chair, where the paper was before. Gabe really has to get better at tidying up. Resolving to have a word with him, I walk back out once I’ve put my bag down. Mina’s turned to music off now and she’s smiling at something in her hands while Gabe sits up on the counter, smirking as usual.

“Get down off there,” I say, giving him a shove. He flails his arms a little but lands safely, which I suppose is technically good luck since I won’t get in trouble, but it would have been funny if he’d fallen over. I turn to Mina. “Why’d you let him sit up on the counter?”

She jumps a little and blushes. “I didn’t notice,” she says, before turning and glaring at him. “You know you can’t do that. It needs a clean anyway, get to it. If you want to be higher up wear high heels or something, don’t clamber all over the counter!”

Gabe pouts as he goes to get the cleaning cloth and his ears are tinged red. Mina and I roll our eyes at each other and then giggle.

“There,” says Mina as she fastens her clip in her hair. I guess that’s what she was looking at in her hands, but now her clip has a small pink flower on it. Hey… that looks like the flower from the break room! Maybe it fell off her or something. Still doesn’t mean Gabe isn’t an awful cleaner. I hope he never tries to work as a janitor or he’d be fired by the end of the day.

To be honest Mina would have fired him multiple times over by now if it wasn’t for his baking and last year’s deal and I would just to get him to shut up. Hmm… maybe that’s why I’m not the boss. I don’t think firing people because they talk too much is a good company policy, but what do I know?

“Looks nice,” I say, leaning a little closer to get a better look at the flower.

“Thanks,” Mina says and touches it gently. “Oh yeah, and thanks for the cake.”

“Huh?”

“It was really nice and uh yeah…” Mina trails off looking embarrassed. I have no idea what she’s talking about. Was I meant to do some job with the cakes or something? If so I’ve completely forgotten, oops. Well, it sounds like she’s happy with it so might as well take the credit.

“Yeah sure no problem,” I say. “Glad to help.”

I think Mina’s about to say something more, but then her alarm goes off and she has to go and open up. We get our first customer almost immediately, a new one by the looks of things, and I plaster on my brightest smile to get ready for the day. Saturdays can get quite busy even for us, with lots of people coming in to meet with friends. Days like this make me hopeful about Angels future, and even more so now I know that Operation Cean is working out. Thinking of that…

 

After about half an hour we’re completely settled into our customer serving routine, so I begin my inquiries. “Hey Gabe,” I say while pouring coffee. “Do you think Cas will be in today?”

He shrugs. “How do you expect me to know?”

“You are his brother,” I point out.

“Yeah but I don’t need to keep tabs on the kid anymore! Just because we still live at home doesn’t mean I know what he’s doing all the time.” Gabe huffs in annoyance. “Why do you care anyway?”

“No reason,” I say quickly, returning to the customers in line.

“Just checking up on our regulars!” injects Mina and we share a smile.

“You sure there’s nothing else?” asks Gabe, looking at us sideways.

“Positive!” we both squeak. Oh dammit, we do not want him finding out about this at all.

“Hmm…” he says, sucking on that stupid lollipop he always has. I’m about 99% sure it’s against health and safety but something tells me he doesn’t care.

“Hey guys, hot chocolate please.” I turn around and see Chuck has come and sat up at the bar. He’s looking better, although still scruffy, but that’s more just a general part of him than a sign of anything wrong.

“Chuck!” exclaims Gabe. “You alright?”

“Yeah I’m good thanks,” he replies, smiling. He hasn’t got his laptop with him and it’s weird, like he’s missing an arm or something all of a sudden. “That stuff you bought over really helped.”

“No problem,” mumbles Gabe, dropping his head a little

“Wait, you actually went over to his?” Mina asks in disbelief.

“Yeah I just bought over some food and checked up on him, it’s no big deal.” He shrugs.

“Please don’t say you stalk our customers, Gabriel,” Mina says sternly.

“It’s fine, he used to come over all the time,” says Chuck.

“Really?” I ask. Then I realise I should probably get back to work, so I start making Chuck’s hot chocolate. I’m still half listening though. From what I can make out above the noise, Chuck and Gabe have actually known each other since grade school and are pretty good friends. Gabriel doesn’t talk about his friends much at work (honestly I think he’s a bit of an outsider) and Chuck is always too busy writing to chat so that’s why it never came up. By the time I bring over Chuck’s drink the discussion is over, Gabe apparently doesn’t seem to think it’s that important that in his year of working here he never mentioned his best friend is our best customer. Mina disagrees, but we’re too busy to waste time arguing.

 

About an hour later, Chuck’s gone home (he only really came in to thank Gabe and repay Mina) and the café has emptied out a little bit. Mina’s been giving me these odd, shy looks all morning and Gabe keeps smirking every time he notices (although ‘smirk’ is his default reaction so nothing new there) and I don’t really know what’s going on. I’m also a bit worried about Operation Cean because Cas hasn’t turned up to receive his note yet!

Just as I’m mentioning that to Mina (the Cas thing not about her and Gabe being weird) the door opens and in walks one half of Cean. Unfortunately it’s not the one we’re looking for right now (not that I don’t love Dean and all but we need Cas or how is the note passing going to work?)

He joins the queue and gives me an excited smile. I nervously smile back and hope he won’t be upset when he realises there’s nothing from Castiel yet.

The line moves fast and he’s at the front soon, but it’s just my luck that when he reaches us, I’m caught up with serving another customer. I hope Mina gets him at least…

“Heya Deano what can I getcha?”

I groan internally. Trust Gabe to mess everything up.

“Um, I was wondering, did uh, did Cas leave me anything?” Dean asks, green eyes bright and excited.

“What about my brother?” asks Gabe, instantly suspicious.

“Brother?” Dean repeats, taken aback.

“Why are you asking about Cas’s stuff?” demands Gabriel, glaring. I’m surprised, normally he’s pretty easy going with the customers but I guess even he has a protective side for his little bro.

“I just um…” Dean’s eyes are wide and he looks around nervously. Thankfully, I manage to finish up the order and step in.

“Gabe I think you need to go clean that table,” I order.

“Hang on I’m trying to find out why he’s going on about Cassie!” protests Gabe.

“Gabriel.” Mina’s voice is steel. “You’re making our customers wait, now go.”

He leaves and heads for the table, glaring at us.

“Sorry about that,” Mina says brightly. “He’s Castiel’s stepbrother so we didn’t tell him about you two. He tends to play tricks as you know.”

“Really?” Dean’s eyebrows shoot up. “I didn’t know they were related. So, uh, anyway, is there anything for me?”

“No sorry,” I reply. “Castiel hasn’t been in today and Gabe doesn’t know if he’s coming in or not. You’ll have to buy your own drink.”

“No problem, I’d like an Americano please.” Dean acts like it isn’t a big deal, but I can see him deflate a little. I think he was looking forwards to hearing from Cas more than he’s trying to let on.

Gabriel doesn’t return to the counter until after Dean has sat down with his drink. “Right, anyone like to tell me what’s going on?”

Mina and I exchange looks.

“No, not about that, about why Dean is asking about my baby bro,” Gabriel pulls another one of his never ending candy bars out of his pocket (how does he fit that many in there?) and begins to take slow bites.

Mina gives me a little nod and says, “OK it’s like this. Angels is nearly shutting down. We need and attraction. Sarah thought it could be that we set people up. I said that to prove she could do it she had to set up Dean and Castiel. They’ve been buying each other drinks in advance and leaving notes.”

“You’re kidding right?” Gabriel stops chewing his sugary rubbish and stares. I shake my head.

“Please, don’t interfere with this,” I say. “It’s important!”

“Fine, I won’t,” he promises. Ok, that is not like him.

“What are you playing at?” I ask.

“So suspicious!” he exclaims, clasping a hand to his heart. “You wound me! I’m not planning anything to do with this. I won’t tell, as long as you let me help if I feel like it.”

“What do you know about matchmaking?” Mina asks sceptically.

“More than you’d think.” Gabe quirks his eyebrows up at me. “Trouble maker, match maker, not much difference to me.”

“You said you weren’t a troublemaker anymore,” I point out.

“Transferable skill set! Trust me, I’m great at this. I’m working a job right now and they don’t even know.”

Mina and I laugh. He’s so full of nonsense.

“So, I’m in?” he asks.

“Yeah sure whatever,” sighs Mina. “Just keep your mouth shut.”

“Will do!” Gabe gives a mock salute. “I’m the expert at this love stuff.”

I open my mouth to remind him of his disastrous date with Mina (seriously who manages to knock themselves unconscious at the cinema?) when the door opened and Gabe goes pale. “Kali!” he squeaks and ducks down so he’s hidden behind the counter. I look over towards the door. This tall dark girl in a bright red dress has just walked in and she confidently walks across the room to a table where she sits.

“Who’s that?” I ask. “And will you please stand up? It’s hard to talk to you normally, you’re so low down, but this is just ridiculous.”

“Shh!” Gabe brings a finger to his lips, still crouched down. “Normally I’d be ready with a witty retort to your cruel and unnecessary jab about my height, or lack thereof, but right now I need to stay hidden.”

“Why?” asks Mina. “If you’ve been causing trouble again you can’t sort it out here. I’m not having a repeat of last year.”

“Why do you guys have to bring that up every time?” moans Gabriel quietly. “No, it’s something different. The thing is…”

“Gabe we do not have time for your nonsense today,” I hiss.

“Look, Kali may or may not be my ex that I parted with on ‘bad terms’,” whispers Gabriel. “I believe her exact words were ‘if I ever see you again I’ll kill you’ and I take that pretty seriously.”

I look over at Kali. She doesn’t look like that’s an empty threat. I decide its best not to voice my doubts he ever had a girlfriend since we didn’t even know he’s friends with Chuck. “Ok, fine,” I say. “What are you going to do? Hide down there?”

“Yes!” replies Gabe. “It’s only until she’s gone.” He looks up at us with pleading golden eyes.

“Don’t be such a wimp,” scolds Mina.  Then she sighs. “Look, Sarah and I have got customers to serve so if you’re just going to be a nuisance, at least do it quietly. We’ll tell you when she’s gone.”

Gabe nods and presses himself as far out the way as possible, before bringing out a fresh sucker and beginning on that. Mina and I roll our eyes before getting to work again.

 

“Look, Gabe, we promise you she’s gone,” I say. “You really have to get up now!” I look around the room and sigh. Kali is most definitely not here, the only customers are a few random ones I don’t know and Dean, still waiting on his sofa. I hope Cas turns up soon.

“No way you’re just tricking me!” argues Gabe in a whisper.

“You’re being stupid now! Why would I do that?”

Gabe shrugs and thinks for a moment, rolling his lolly around his mouth. “Got it,” he says finally. “You’re jealous I went out with such a hot girl so you’re trying to get me back.”

“That’s nonsense!” I exclaim. “I don’t even know her.”

Gabe gives me a smirk. “That doesn’t mean you can’t be jealous. Unless… there’s already someone your heart is set on…”

I feel my face heating up. Right, time to end this discussion. “You can have 2 more minutes since it’s quite, then you are going back to work, evil ex or not.”

“Fine…” grumbles Gabe. “But if I die it’s going on your conscience.”

I get back to work and manage to avoid the corner Gabe is huddled in, until a customer I recognise walks in. It’s Moose, um, I mean Sam. He goes and dumps his bags on the sofa opposite Dean and they exchange a greeting, before he walks up to the counter.

“One second Sam,” I call.

“Hey, you remembered,” he replies with a smile.

“You’re kinda hard to forget,” I say, returning the smile.

“Yeah I guess it’s a moose thing.” Sam reaches out a hand to have a look at the pot of pens we have for sale, when he accidentally knocks it behind the counter.

“Ouch!” Gabe shoots up, rubbing his head and Sam jumps back in surprise.

“There’s another one of you back there?” he exclaims.

“Dammit,” mutters Gabe, bending over to pick up all the scattered pens.

“Yeah, unfortunately,” I say. “He’s hiding from his ex at the moment.”

“Sarah…” whines Gabe. “Don’t tell him that!” He fumbles a little trying to put the pens back in their pot and Sam begins to help him. “Oh um, thanks…” he mutters, hardly looking Sam in the eye.

“Are you alright?” asks Sam. “I didn’t mean to knock that onto you, um...” he leans forwards a little to get a look at Gabriel’s nametag. “…Babe?”

For a second I’m confused, but then I remember his sharpie alterations and laugh. I bet he’s been waiting for ages for an attractive customer to come in and do exactly what Sam just did (the name part not the hitting him with pens thing I mean) I’m expecting a laugh from Gabe, or an inappropriate comment, but instead he just shuffles self-consciously and mutters that he’s fine and his name is Gabriel. Something’s weird, I could swear he’s starting to blush; this is not like him at all! Where’s the bravado, the jokes, the flirting? That’s how he normally acts with our attractive customers… oh.

“Gabe, can you deal with Sam while I help Mina clean up that table?” I say, but it’s not really a question because I’m already walking past. He flashes me a slightly panicked look that I pretend not to see before turning back to Sam and brightly asking what he’d like.

While I’m helping Mina I briefly tell her in a low voice about Gabriel’s giant crush on the giant Moose and we share a grin. It makes me feel good, even though ideally I’d be sharing much more than a grin with her. We return to Gabe when Sam has gone to sit with Dean. Now I think about it, I’m pretty sure Dean has mentioned a tall littler brother, I guess that’s Sam then.

“So, how’d you like the moose then?” asks Mina playfully, sliding up to Gabe, who’s stood watching Sam and Dean with a cute little smile. Wow, never thought ‘cute’ could apply to this idiot.

“You loooveee him!” I add, nudging him slightly.

“Shut up you guys!” he explodes, turns to glare at us. “He’s just a nice customer ok?”

“A customer you gave an unauthorized free cake to,” points out Mina, looking between the register display and Sam’s plate.

“It’s my cake I can do what I want with it…” he grumbles, crossing his arms and staring sullenly at the floor.

“Even if you look away we can still see you’re blushing,” I helpfully add. Looking across to Sam and Dean, I realise Sam’s trying to surreptitiously point out Gabriel to Dean without Gabe noticing. Dean laughs and begins talking animatedly. “Hey Gabe? I think Dean is telling Sam about how you ended up working here.”

Gabe pulls in a sharp breath and turns to me, face full of alarm. “He can’t do that!”

“Why not? It’s a pretty funny story and clearly Sam wants to know about you,” Mina points out.

“Yeah but it’s…” I’m pretty sure the word he’s looking for is ‘embarrassing’ but I doubt he would ever willingly use it about himself. “…not very cool.”  
“You should have thought of that before you dresses up as a girl, got basically arrested by a girl and targeted an innocent café,” Mina retorts.

“Oh yeah because when I’m planning things I really think ‘hey what if in a year’s time this hot guy comes into the café I’m going to be working in and asks about me and he hears about this do I really want to do this?’”

“So you admit you think he’s hot?” Mina and I ask at the same time, before high fiving.

“I – what? No I just…” Gabriel splutters and then is forced to accept we got him here.

“Look Gabe,” I say. “Most of our customers have heard of at least part of that story anyway.”

 

The events of last year were somewhat famous around the College Campus, despite Angels’ best efforts to move past it. Being known as the battleground in a prank war led by Gabriel Novak wasn’t exactly the kind of publicity we wanted.

The story most people know is: Gabriel and Castiel had fallen out over something. Castiel decided to completely ignore Gabriel and Gabe decided to respond with pranks.

So, Angels became the place where Gabriel would play all of his tricks, probably because Castiel is here so often and there are more people around to see him humiliated. It started out small, just mixing up salt and sugar, things like that. Then they started to escalate. Undoing the screws in the table and chair, water balloons set to fire when the bathroom door opened, even once hiring a male stripper to come in and go up to Castiel while he was working (that was a narrowly avoided disaster)

After a few weeks we managed to catch him in the act, take a picture and make him our first ‘banned customer.’ The pranks stopped, although Jo did catch him trying to sneak in a few more times.

Then nothing, for ages. We thought it was over.

Until one day, a pretty golden haired girl in a yellow dress came in. Nobody paid her any attention as she sat up at the counter until she ‘accidentally’ dropped her mug. With Mina and I distracted, she dashed behind the counter and began attempting to add super spicy sauce to the water in the coffee machines. Luckily, Castiel had joined the queue just then and saw through Gabriel’s disguise quickly, shouted out to us and next thing you know, Jo has tackled him to the ground and detained him in the break room. Prank spree over.

That’s the part most people around here know. Only a few people like our regulars and us baristas know the rest of what happened. Gabriel’s pranks rarely hit the intended target and it was affecting our business badly. Nobody wanted to come to a café where you could be tricked at any moment (although we did get a few people looking for the stripper) and with Angels already struggling, we had to find a way to make Gabriel help repair the damage he did.

 I wasn’t around for this bit, but Mina says she called his parents then they came, picked Cas and Gabe up, knocked their heads together and promised to come back the next day to sort out compensation. She turned down their offer of money by saying stuff about how the loss of the trust of our customers was something that couldn’t just be paid back. I have no idea how the discussion would have gone if it wasn’t for the fact that Gabriel had baked her some ‘apology pie’ which was delicious, just like all his other baking. It just so happened that we’d recently lost our baked goods supplier, so Mina had a brilliant idea. Gabriel would work as a barista at Angels for much less than normal and we’d buy baked goods off him for cheap. We’d try it for a year and then if things had improved he could get a full paid job here.

Gabriel wasn’t thrilled with this plan, but his parents were, and after consideration he realised that a lesser paid job where he could bake was better than no job at all (like he had then) so the deal was made. He also had to promise no more pranks or trickster stuff, at least around Angels. Unfortunately, Mina forgot to add ‘not being the most annoying person we know’ to the list of demands.

 

“Just ‘cause they already know doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it.” Gabe pouts and glares up at me.

“Well you don’t get annoyed like this when Dean knows so why do you care about Sam?” I ask, attempting his knowing smirk. Not quite sure if I actually got it right or not.

“I don’t, he’s just a customer!” protests Gabe.

“Sure, and that’s why you were staring all soppy over at him.”

“I was not! Anyway, that’s what you do to Jo!”

“I don’t fancy her, how many times?”

“Sarah, we all know that’s only ‘cause you like someone else…”

“Shut up Gabe! Also by suggesting I fancy Jo because I smile at her, which is the same as what you were doing, you are proving that you do have a crush on Sam!”

“Oooh, who does Sarah fancy? Do you know Gabe?”

“Yeah obviously. I know everything!”

“Excuse me, could I get a coffee?” Our childish bickering is interrupted by a customer, so we immediately break it off and return to our normal, professional selves, for the most part. I say ‘for the most part’ because Gabe stuck his tongue out at me when I used my fingers to catch him and Sam in a love heart shape. He’s such a child.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took ages to write I don't know why... I had to split it into two chapters. I have no idea when the next one will be up because I'm going away to somewhere where I might not be able to write, so it could be about 2 weeks sorry!
> 
> While I'm gone why not suggest characters you would like to see turn up at some point? Sure, they're unlikely to be in my plan, but nothing ever is (in my last fic a glitter covered goat turned up that I most definitely did not plan) 
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoyed visiting angels! We accept comments and kudos as tips! :D


	6. Castiel finally turns up

By three o’clock I’m exhausted and just about ready to give up on romance at Angels (something I never thought I’d say!) Gabriel failed to do anything about his blatantly obvious crush on Sam, Dean was forced to go home without seeing Castiel and for some strange reason Mina still isn’t going out with me, though that may have something to do with me not actually letting her know I like her.   
“You look tired,” comments Gabriel brightly as he dries a mug.  
I’m instantly suspicious. “What are you playing at?” I ask, looking sideways at him as I serve a customer.   
“What, I can’t ask my favourite co-worker how they are without being accused of malicious intent? I’m deeply hurt!” Gabriel looked the very picture of wrongly accused innocence. Right, that confirms it, he’s planning something. Nobody that devious has any business looking sweet.  
“No you’re not,” I say and cross my arms. “Now, what do you want?”   
He held up his hands in defence. “Why does everyone always assume I’ve got an ulterior motive?”  
“Because you always do.”  
“True…” admits Gabriel grudgingly after a pause. Then he grins. “But not this time, I’m only trying to be nice!”  
“You’re being nice?” asked Mina as she returns from the break room/store cupboard carring a fresh bag of coffee beans. “Since when?”  
“I’m always nice!” protests Gabriel.   
“Give one example,” challenged Mina, arms folded.  
“Just now I was being nice to Sarah when she said how tired she was!”  
“I never said that!” I interject.   
“Are you alright?” Mina asks me. She tilts her head with concern and steps closer. My stomach twists, but not altogether unpleasantly. Not for the first time I wonder how soft her hair would actually feel.   
Suddenly, she stumbles against me and I have to grab the counter to avoid us both falling over. “Woah!”  
“I’m sorry,” says Mina once we’re stable and looks up at me. “Are you hurt?”  
“Uh… no… I mean… I’m fine…” I mumble. I’m suddenly acutely aware of her being pressed right up against me.  
Unfortunately, she seems to notice that too and jumps back. “Gabriel, you pushed me!” I think her cheeks are red from anger. Surely it couldn’t be anything else?  
“No I didn’t!” he protests. “It’s not my fault you’re clumsy!”  
“I’m not clumsy!” argues Mina. “You can’t just push your boss like that!”  
I begin to tune out the argument as I mentally review the five seconds or so I had Mina in my arms, but then the door opens and Castiel finally walks in. He heads straight to the back of the queue but I signal to him to sit down and that we’ll bring the drink over. After a moment’s confusion, he understands and takes his normal place.  
“I’m going to go and give Castiel his drink and note,” I tell Mina.   
“I’ll do it!” announced Gabriel, already at the machine. “Where’s the note?”  
“Mina, are you sure it’s ok to let him take it?” I ask.  
“Hey, I’ll have you know I’m super-duper responsible and all that!” protests Gabriel. He finishes making the drink and turns back to face us. “Note, please?”  
Mina sighs as she works the register. “Top right of the notice board.”  
“Don’t read it!” I add. This may be slightly hypocritical considering Mina and I not only read it but added to it, but we were using our powers for good and Gabe would only do evil, or at least mercilessly tease both halves of Cean.   
“Sure, sure, whatever,” Gabe replies as he swipes it off the board and skips out from behind the counter, narrowly avoiding spilling the coffee everywhere.   
I watch as he puts Castiel’s drink down on the table and hands over the note, before standing there with his hands on hips as Cas reads it.  
It’s a pretty sweet note even if I do say so myself, not that we actually had to add that much this time. It’s now something like  
‘dear Cas,   
I tried to catch you for that coffee but we must have missed each other    
Here’s my number (whatever his number is, my memory isn’t that great)   
maybe you could call me? From Dean xxx’  
Amazingly, Dean even added one of those x’s by himself! I think my romance skills are rubbing off on him.  
Castiel smiles as he reads it and instantly gets out his phone. I think he’s about to call Dean right then, but when he notices Gabriel is still standing there and smirking, he only enters the number.   
“Gabe, get back here!” Mina calls but she’s unsurprisingly ignored. Instead, Gabriel plonks himself in the armchair opposite Castiel and leans forwards. They’re too far away to hear what’s being said, but from Castiel’s bright flush I can make a guess. “Sarah, can you go and stop Gabe from ruining everything?”  
“Why me?” I ask.   
“Because you’re better at handling him than me,” she explains. I’m not sure if that’s true, but the compliment warms me so I nod and head out towards the table. Angel’s isn’t too bust at the moment so Mina can deal with the customers alone for a minute or so.   
“Gabriel, it’s not your break!” I scold when I reach them. “You can chat with your brother later.”  
“I’m just finding out about his crush!” argues Gabe. “I have to look out for him!”  
“I don’t have a crush,” Castiel interrupts. “That would be childish.”  
“Sure, whatever.” Gabriel waves a lazy hand dismissively. “It doesn’t matter what you call it, the fact remains you need to do something about this crush.”  
Castiel’s eyes widen slightly and he seems at a loss for words. I step in to save him. “Gabriel, if you don’t get back to work right now, I’ll tell Castiel about you-know-who.”  
“Voldemort?” asks Castiel in confusion.  
Gabriel tries on another smirk. “Maybe I don’t care what you say, it’s not true anyway.”  
“So you don’t mind me telling your baby brother about you staring dreamily over at Sam and freaking out when Dean started telling him about you?”  
He began to flush slightly but kept up his unbothered attitude.   
“What about Dean?” Castiel asks quickly.  
“He was with this really ho- um I mean, tall, guy earlier,” Gabriel explains. I raise an eyebrow at his slip.  
“Who was he?” Castiel leans forwards in his chair slightly.  
“Eh I don’t know,” shrugs Gabe. “Maybe a date, who knows? I wasn’t watching.”  
That right there is a bare faced lie, but Castiel doesn’t know that. “Are you sure about that?” I ask Gabe. He gets the hint that I’ll end up telling Castiel all about his soppy behaviour unless he gets back to work and finally scoots.   
“Don’t mind him,” I tell Castiel as he takes a sip of his coffee. “Anyway, enjoy your drink!”

Castiel sits there, tapping on his laptop solemnly until closing time. I don’t pay particular notice though, it’s not unusual for him and I have other things to take my attention, such as Gabriel’s continuous antics and Mina’s just general presence really.   
“Closing time buddy,” Mina tells him gently as she’s wiping down the last tables.  
“Oh, okay,” he says as he begins to pack up his things.   
“You gonna leave a note for Dean?” she asks.  
Castiel shakes his head. “No.” His tone does not invite further questions.

“Don’t worry,” I tell Mina once he’s gone. “I’m sure he didn’t leave a note because he’s going to phone Dean.”  
“I hope so,” she says. “But we can’t really help with that…”  
Before I can think it through, I lean in and give her a quick hug. “It’ll be fine!” I say brightly. Then I break away and bolt out the door, barely remembering to say bye. I’m not sure if she replied.

At home, I’m sat down in front of my computer. I had this cool idea for a subplot about another romance in the café for my book. I’m certain it will be great! Just as I’m about to start typing, my phone rings. I consider ignoring it, but the ringtone is too annoying so I grab it and check caller ID. It’s Mina!  
Oh my gosh, she’s actually calling me! She hardly ever does, and even then it’s just for work stuff. But I only left like half an hour ago, nothing could have come up in that time. So… it’s like a personal call?  
My hands are almost shaking as I pick up. “Hey Mina,” I say, all casual like. Yeah, that’s good. Be cool Sarah.  
“Sarah? I need your help.”   
My veins suddenly run cold. That’s not Mina's voice. That’s Gabriel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one's so short guys I was away for ages and then it was really hard to make myself start this up again. Hopefully by next time I'll be back to normal standard!  
> As usual, I love comments and kudos and all that so please leave some :)  
> Thanks for reading hope you enjoyed!


	7. A lark in the park in the dark where the dogs to bark

I still haven’t answered. I can hear Gabe talking on the phone, checking if I’m still there, but my mind is a million miles away, running through every single scenario that means Gabriel is calling me from Mina’s phone asking for help. None of them are good.   
Eventually, I work up my courage to ask, “What’s happened to Mina? Is she alright?”  
“What? What about Mina?”  
“She’s not…?” I trail off, unable to finish the sentence. It hangs in the air for a moment, until Gabriel does something unexpected.  
He laughs.  
Ok, I know he’s not the most sensitive of people but really that’s going too far even for him! The only people who laugh at people being hurt are…  
“Gabriel, are you a psychopath?” I ask. Maybe not the most subtle of questions but I’m not exactly thinking right.  
“What the hell kinda question is that?” he exclaims. Even though he’s only on the phone, I can easily imagine his expression of exaggerated outrage. “Of course I’m not! Honestly, all you have to do is pull a few pranks this one time and they never let you forget it…”  
“Gabriel!” I snap. “What. Has. Happened. To. Mina?”  
“Nothing, far as I know,” he replies quickly and a wave a relief washes over me. “Oh, apart from she might have noticed her phone’s missing. ‘Cause um… I might have borrowed it…” he adds sheepishly.  
“You stole her phone?” I exclaim, immediately alarmed again.  
“Borrowed!” he corrects. “For short term only. She hardly uses it; I doubt she even knows it’s gone! But never mind that, I need your help. And no, it’s nothing much to do with Mina. I only called you on her phone because mine is out of charge.”  
I’m about to grill him further on his phone theft, but I catch a small note of urgency in his voice, barely audible through the usual bravado. If Gabriel Novak, proud trickster, able to wiggle out of any trouble, the boy without a shred of reservation in him, was upset enough about something to actually ask me for help, it had to be serious.  
I sigh. “Fine, we’ll come back to this stolen phone later. Now, what’s the matter?”  
“It’s Castiel,” says Gabriel and now I know it’s there, the worry in his voice is obvious. “He’s gone.”  
“What do you mean ‘gone’?”   
“Well he was crying earlier and I tried to comfort him and he got mad and ran off somewhere and it’s dark out and I don’t know where he is so we have to find him!” His voice is getting faster and higher. I think his usual ‘couldn’t care less’ attitude is in danger of shattering.   
“Calm down,” I say soothingly. I hear him take a few deep breathes. “How have you tried contacting him?”  
“I’ve tried calling his phone, and all his friends’ phones, and places like the library he likes going to but no sign of him at all.”  
“Haven’t you gone out and looked for him yet?” I ask, surprised. That would be the first thing I did.  
“It’s a big town,” he points out. “Plus I didn’t really want to do it alone,” he adds in a quiet rush. “Uh, would you mind coming over?”  
“Sure,” I say, getting up. “Text me the address.”  
“Ok, thanks,” he says gratefully as I begin to put on a coat and my boots.  
“Just one thing,” I say. “Why are you asking me?”  
“No reason,” he says quickly. Then, since he doesn’t sound convincing by any stretch of imagination, he adds a bit more. “Just, you know, I wanted to avoid Mina since I took her phone and Chuck, well you know what he’s like. We’d have to worry about him more than Cas.”  
“But your other friends?” I press. I don’t know why I’m even doing this, I should be rushing off to find our customer, but right now, wrought with concern for his little brother, it seems like Gabriel is being more open than ever before and it’s fascinating.  
Gabriel pauses so long I begin to think he’s hung up and I’m about to turn off the phone when he finally replies in what’s almost a whisper, “I don’t really have any others. Friends need to be trustworthy and nobody would trust a trickster.” Then I hear the beep signalling he had actually hung up this time, and I get going.

Turns out the Novak’s don’t live too far from me, so I run there. The whole way my mind is churning, wondering about where Castiel could be and why he ran and why Gabe stole Mina’s phone and how it came to be that a generally annoyed co-worker (me) could be one of his only friends. There were also a few thoughts about puppies and things like that but that’s brains for you, always throwing up random stuff at the worst moments. They were cute puppies though so I didn’t mind too much.   
When I arrive, panting heavily, at the Novak’s home, Gabriel is already pacing outside. He’s in jeans and an olive jacket with a dark backpack slung over each shoulder. I call out to him in greeting and he jolts before turning to me with an attempt at his normal grin.   
“Heya Sarah,” he says with not quite as much bounce as usual. I notice he won’t quite meet me eyes. Maybe he’s regretting what he let slip on the phone.  
“What are those bags for?” I ask, pointing.  
“Supplies!” he announces proudly and shrugs one off his shoulder. He unzips the top and throws it at me. “Torches, first aid kit, sweets, map, walkie talkie, flares-“  
I cut him off. “We don’t need all this stuff. We’re literally just walking around looking for him.”  
“Yeah but…” he squirms a little. “It’s like 9pm who knows what’s out there?”  
I look around the quiet suburban street with its snoozing houses and warm halos from streetlights. Sure, it might night, but in addition to the many lights around town the moon is out, casting a slivery lining on the few areas the yellow lights can’t reach.  
“I really don’t think we need all that stuff,” I tell him. “Won’t it just make running around harder?”  
“Maybe but…”  
“Also I’m fairly certain it’s illegal to carry around flares. Aren’t they like an offensive weapon or something?”  
Gabriel shrugged and pouted. “I thought they might be useful.”  
I sigh. We’re not going to get anywhere if we just argue about equipment. “Fine… you can take the other stuff, but leave the flares here.”  
“Done.” He nods and quickly removes the flares and casually tosses them towards the porch. I flinch slightly, before taking a deep breath and bringing my mind back to the problem at hand.  
“Ok, so I think if I take the town North of here and you take South and then meet up at the park entrance in an hour?” I suggest. “Call each other if we find him. That alright?”  
“Uh yeah sure… But um, will you be alright?”  
“Me?”  
“Well… you’re a girl and you’ll be running around town alone at night, isn’t that like, dangerous?” Gabriel folds his arms and looks up at me. I realise he’s right. In my rush to help I’d forgotten about myself.   
“Yeah I guess so…” I admit. “It would be safer to stick together.”  
“Exactly! Just what I was thinking, kiddo!”  
“But together we’d cover a lot less ground…”  
“We could run extra fast?” suggests Gabe.  
“I’ve got a better idea,” I say. “I’ll call some people to come help!”  
“But!” Gabe began to protest.  
“Not Chuck obviously,” I assure him. “And I know you want to avoid Mina but this in an emergency and I’m sure she’ll hold off you until afterwards.” As I speak I begin to text. “Jo is training to be a police officer so she’ll have done training exercises like this before I bet. And maybe Castiel would be more willing to come out of wherever he’s hiding if Dean’s there?” I send off the text to Dean and Jo, with an additional request to try and bring Mina along.  
“NO!” Gabriel lunges to grab my phone, but I lift it up out of reach.  
“What the hell Gabe?”  
He takes a deep breath. “Dean isn’t really likely to help here,” he says.  
“Why not? He likes Cas, Cas likes him, where’s the problem?”  
“Well…” Gabriel fidgets and then pulls a sweet out of his pocket and begins chewing.   
“You can’t just avoid problems by eating candy,” I point out. He pulls a face I interpret as ‘well I can try.’  
Finally he swallows and looks up at me. “Ok, it’s like this,” he begins. “But you’re not allowed to be mad because I thought I was helping, alright?”  
Oh dear, no good explanation ever began like that.  
“So you know how Dean and Moose were in Angels today?”  
“Yeah, you were swooning over Sam the whole time.”  
“Was not! Anyway, and you know Cas came in and I may have mentioned Sam?”  
I think I can see where this is going. “Yes?”  
“Well… when we got home I may or may not have gotten a bit carried away with telling Cassie about him and may or may not have heavily implied Dean and Sam were going out. And for some reason that upset Castiel. Who may have then angrily called Dean. And been rather insulting. And then ran away.” Gabriel tries to grin but falters when he sees my expression.  
“What the heck Gabe?” I explode. “The one condition of you being in on operation Cean was that you weren’t to ruin it! And you ruined it!”  
“I didn’t ruin it exactly… just… made it a bit more difficult by mistake!” He throws his hands up.  
“Why would you even do that?” I moan, burying my face in one hand.  
“I thought I was helping!”  
“In what way was that helping, Gabriel?”  
“I guess I was thinking something about jealousy or something I don’t know alright.” He begins chewing another sweet. “I’ll admit it wasn’t one of my better plans but there’s not a lot I can do about it now apart from find my little bro.”  
My phone beeps. I’ve got some replies. “Here, I’ll see who’s helping,” I say as I begin to read my messages. With each one my heart feels a little lighter. “Good news!” I tell Gabriel. “All of them!”  
His face lights up with hope. “Really?”  
“Yeah!” I scroll a little bit more. “They’re all coming here, I sent them the address, and then Jo is going to organise us all on where to go. Nobody lives too far away so shouldn’t take too long. They all promised to keep an eye out for him on the way here as well.”

As predicted, we only have to wait a few minutes for the reinforcements. I almost missed them because I wasn’t expecting a police car, so it was a bit of a surprise when Jo, Mina, Dean and Sam all piled out.  
“You’re allowed a police car?” I ask Jo in awe.  
“Not technically,” she replies with a wink. “But I’m friend’s with most of the officers so they said they didn’t mind just this once.”  
“That’s so cool!” I exclaim, grinning. “Can we do the siren?”  
“Much as we all enjoy police cars, can we focus on finding the missing guy?” interrupts Sam. “Heya Babe,” he adds to Gabe. It’s hard to tell in the gloom but I’m pretty sure he blushed. Young love, so sweet. Shame they’re not canon yet but maybe that can be my next job.  
“Hey,” whispered Mina, suddenly appearing next to me.   
“Hi,” I reply. Neither of us are sure of what to say next so I just study her in the low light until Jo raises her voice.  
“Right, listen up everyone! We need to find Castiel Novak who appears to have run away. Gabriel has been unable to contact him and his whereabouts are unknown. As he didn’t leave the house with any money or possessions, apart from his phone, he can’t have gone very far. I have devised a search pattern that should enable us to both stay safe and find him.” She pauses to survey us. We’ve naturally gathered into a semicircle around her, everyone’s faces alert and intense.  
“Everyone find a pair now,” she orders. Mina immediately grabs my arm and I flash her a nervous grin. Next to me, Gabe stares intently at his feet. I know he’s hoping Sam will pick him, but it seems he’s either too shy or too proud to ask. Luckily for him, that problem is solved when Jo attaches herself to Dean’s arm. “I’ll go with my buddy Dean here!”  
Gabriel and Sam exchange small smiles. “Looks like you’re stuck with me now, Samsquatch,” Gabe says. “Want some candy?”  
“Shut up, you need to concentrate on this!” snaps Jo. “Right, he can’t have gone too far, Dean and I will cover North from this street up to Bucknole Avenue, Sam and Gabriel will cover South to Warsall Road, Mina and Sarah will check that park just East of here. If you find him, call everyone else before engaging, we don’t want to spook him. In the unlikely event we don’t find him, meet back here in two hours. Any questions?”  
We all shake our heads.   
“Good. Now, let’s go!”  
“C’mon Sarah!” Mina says. She pulls me along by my arm until I start running properly to catch up with her. “The park’s just down here.”  
I follow her down a small street until we turn onto a bigger one and reach the great black gates. The park isn’t locked until 11pm so we still had enough time to make a good search of it.   
“Where should we search first?” she asks.  
I think for a minute. “I think we should run along this main path all the way first, just to check if he’s on any of the benches or by the fountain or somewhere obvious. Even if he isn’t, it will get us used to the park the dark.”  
Mina giggled. “That sounds like a rubbish poem or something.”  
“Yeah,” I agree as we enter the park. “Having a lark in that park in the dark.”  
“Where the dogs do bark!” she added and we collapsed into nervous laughter. Once we finish I suck in a sharp breath.  
“I’m worried for him,” I admit.   
“Me too,” Mina says in a small voice. “He’ll be alright though, won’t he?”  
“Yeah,” I say, more to convince myself than her. “Gabriel’s just overreacting probably. Castiel’s older than us for goodness sake, he can look after himself.”  
“Why did he run in the first place?” wonders Mina.  
I tell her what Gabriel told me about their fight and her face clouds over. “Honestly, we were trusting him not to ruin this and look what he did. I suppose you can’t trust a trickster huh.”  
Her words sound eerily like what Gabriel said. I remember how he sounded. “I think he was trying to help, really,” I say finally. “Just, not quite in the right way.”  
“Maybe,” shrugged Mina. “It’s hard to tell with that guy. Good at baking though.”  
We share a smile at that. “I know right? That cake you let me have was so good!”  
“What cake?” asked Mina.   
Oh no, maybe it wasn’t anything special if she doesn’t remember!  
“You know, you told Gabriel to give me one a few days ago?”  
Mina shakes her head. I notice we’ve got to a fountain and I quickly scan all the benches. No sign of Castiel. “You must have gotten mixed up,” she says. “You were the one who gave me a cake, remember?”  
I’m fairly certain I would remember that, but just before I can say, we hear a noise from the bushes. “What was that?”   
“I don’t know…” Mina replies quietly. We both back away from the bushes as the noise continues.   
“I think we should move along,” I decide, heading around the fountain. Mina follows closely. Suddenly all the shadows seem a lot deeper, all the tiny noises a lot louder.  
We both jump at a sudden cracking noise and I grab her hand before I can process what I’m doing. Her fingers and thin and warm as they curl around mine. We exchange glances and then together we sprint away, as fast as holding hands will let us. I suppose it would be easier to just let go, but neither of us seem to feel like doing that.

Only once we reach the other side of the park do we stop. We’re sweating and out of breath, yet Mina still manages to remain beautiful. I can only imagine what I’m looking like, but she hasn’t dropped my hand so far so maybe it’s not too bad. Or maybe she just hasn’t noticed what she’s doing. I decide against pointing it out.  
“Phew…” Mina says as we lean against the wall. “I don’t think anything’s actually after us.”  
I nod my agreement, still panting too much to talk properly. We stand there, against the wall listening to our breathing slow and the creaking of a nearby swing. After a while, Mina seems to have calmed down and she looks over at me.  
“You alright?” she asks.   
I nod. “Yeah, fine.” I want to tell her that I’m better than fine, that I’m great, that I’m buzzing from the adrenaline of our fright and from her hand that’s still entwined with mine, but I don’t want to remind her of that, she might let go.  
Almost as soon as I think that, she does, and my heart sinks. I hear a rustle of fabric as I stare down at my feet, not trusting myself to look at her or my emotions with betray me. Until suddenly-  
“Sorry, I had icky sweaty hands,” Mina says with a smile in her voice. Her tiny hand slips back into mine and I’m grinning again.  
“So um…” I’m not actually sure what I’m going to say, hopefully something cool and flirty, but I never find out because Mina holds up a finger to her lips. I fall silent. What’s happening?  
“Can you hear that?” she asks. I listen intently, but I don’t know what she’s talking about.  
“All I can hear is that swing and us breathing,” I say. “I don’t get it?”  
“No, that’s it exactly!” Mina whispers. “The swing!”  
I’m still lost. “What about it? Kids play on swings all the time. We’re by a play park. Of course we’re going to hear squeaky swings.”  
“Oh really?” asks Mina. “Do kids normally play on swings at night?”  
My eyes widen as I realise what she means. There shouldn’t be anyone in the play park at this time of night, but if someone is then it could be…  
“Do you think it’s him?” I ask.  
She shrugs. “Only one way to find out.”

Still holding hands, we pick our way through the bushes to the edge of the play park so we can observe it without being seen. Sure enough, sat on one of the swings, gently pushing himself back and forth with his foot is our missing regular, Castiel. His trench coat is closer to grey in the low light and his head is ringed by silver.  
“We need to tell the others,” I whisper.  
“I can’t, my phone’s gone missing,” Mina replies softly.  
“I’ve got mine,” I say and begin texting. I tell the other’s where we are and what Cas is doing. Jo replies first, saying that Dean is going to talk to Cas, she’s going to watch the exit to make sure he won’t run for it and Team Gam (apparently Gabriel chose the name) will watch with me and Mina in the bushes.   
When I relay all of this to Mina she smiles. “Maybe this will turn out to be beneficial to Operation Cean then?” she suggestions.   
“Fingers crossed!” I whisper back.

After about ten minutes we’re suddenly joined by Sam and Gabriel who shuffle into the bushes next to us. I likely would have squeaked if we hadn’t known they were coming.  
“Hey,” Sam whispers. Mina and I give a silent wave back. Gabriel watches Castiel so intently I’m not sure if he notices how close to Sam he is. A rare genuine smile crosses his lips when he confirms that his little brother is alive and well, if a little downcast.   
We all look up when the gate to the play park creaks open and Dean walks in. He pauses for a moment before heading straight for the swing next to Cas and sitting down.  
Castiel doesn’t look up.  
Dean says something too low for us to hear.  
Castiel still doesn’t look up.  
Dean says something else, more urgently this time.  
Castiel throws him a quick glance before returning to staring at the woodchips on the ground. He says something and Dean looks around until he spots the bush we’re in and glares. I think it was directed at Gabriel.   
They continue talking for a while more, Castiel slowly looking happier and Dean slowly relaxing, but it goes on long enough for me to start shivering. Mina notices and removes her hand from mine so she can put her arm around me. She’s smaller so I guess I should have my arm around her but right now I’m warming up so I don’t really care. I wonder if this counts as a date. Hmm… sitting in a park bush at night watching some guys in a park, not really how it went in my imagination but I’ll take what I can get at this point.  
Eventually it seems to have gotten through to Castiel that no Dean does not have a boyfriend and yes Dean is interested in having one and yes the person Dean’s interested in is him. The both stand up from the swings and walk hand in hand out of the park. I have to cover my mouth to stop myself from squeaking at the cuteness.   
Gabriel has no such reservations and whoops at the top of his voice. “MISSION SUCCESS!”   
Castiel is so startled by the sudden noise he almost trips and it’s only Dean’s quick reactions that catch him. We all rush out from the bush and around to the play park entrance to meet them.  
“What are all of you doing here?” asks Castiel in his gravelly confused voice.  
“We were looking for you!” I explain and I give him a quick hug. He freezes for a second and then smiles.  
“I am sorry for causing you any worry,” he says. “Especially you Gabriel.”  
Gabriel smirks. “I wasn’t worried.” I decide it would be tactful to not mention how he was almost falling to pieces not too long ago.  
“I think I should go home now,” Castiel says. “Thank you for coming to find me, though I wasn’t in any danger.”  
“Yeah but you might have been,” points out Mina. “You shouldn’t just go running off like that ok?”  
Castiel nods his head like a child who has been scolded. Dean just laughs. “Don’t worry, he’s got me to look after him now!” He wraps his arm around Castiel’s shoulders. Gabriel pulls a face, Jo beams and Mina and I exchange smiles.   
“Congrats!” I say. Wait, isn’t that just for weddings? Oh well.   
“Thank you,” Castiel says. “And well done on your new relationship with Mina, we were all wondering when that would happen.”  
Gabriel snaps his head around and grins when he sees our hands together. “SECOND MISSION SUCCESS!” he announces.  
I stare at him. “What.” Ok, so Mina and I are a couple now? I’m pretty certain there’s got to be some actual asking out and stuff but you know I could work with this.  
“Oh hey would you look at the time…” Jo sidles off but for once I don’t watch her go.  
I look at Dean, Castiel, Gabriel and Sam. They all are wearing expressions of various degrees of guilt, happiness and awkwardness.  
“You guys all… shipped us?” asks Mina in disbelief.  
“Yup,” confirms Gabe with a grin. “Everyone at Angels could see it! So after several people had asked me, I realized it fell to me to get this ship sailing. I put a lot of work into this: paper hearts, flowers, pie, borrowing Mina’s phone-“ He cut himself off but it was too late.  
“You did what?” explodes Mina.  
Suddenly, Dean, Cas and Sam all managed to make themselves scarce.  
“I wasn’t doing anything bad with it I swear!” Gabe says. “I was just going to like you know, do some text flirting to get things going.”  
“How did you even get it?” I ask. “And how did you unlock it so you could call me?”  
Gabe smirked and managed to look proud despite the death glare he was receiving from Mina. “Easy. I slipped it from your pocket when I pushed you onto Sarah.”  
“I knew you pushed me!”  
If Gabriel is trying to help himself he’s not doing a very good job. Maybe he should just keep his mouth shut.  
“And the passcode?” I ask.  
“I know everyone’s passwords,” he says, like it’s no big deal. “Not that I would ever use them!” he adds hastily when he sees our expressions.   
“Right…” Mina says. “I should just fire you now Gabriel.”  
“Um, you can’t we have a contract thing,” he points out. “Plus I helped in the end, right?”  
Mina sighs and exchanges a look with me. He’s right, much as it pains me to admit. It’s unlikely Mina’s little hand would be wrapped up in mine right now if it hadn’t been for his misguided attempts at help.   
“Fine, we’re discussing this in morning though,” Mina finally says. “Let me walk you home, Sarah.” She turns to head back down the path and I begin to follow.   
Then I quickly run back and give Gabe a hug. “Thanks, even though your help sucks,” I whisper in his ear, before running back after Mina. “We’re setting you up with Sam next!” I call back as we walk away and we both begin to laugh at his spluttered protests.  
“You do realise Sam hasn’t actually gone, he was just avoiding my wrath, and you just tipped him off about our plan?” points out Mina.  
“Yeah…” I say. I hadn’t actually thought of that. Oops.  
“Let’s get you back to yours,” says Mina. I smile. I’m looking forwards to home. All of a sudden, I’ve worked out what to write in my book.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The plan went out the window on this bit. There was meant to be like 2 more chapters but somehow I got it all done in this one. Honestly, I was getting a little suspicious of how well the plan was being followed on this fic it's almost reassuring that I somehow managed to completely rewrite the ending by this point, it's happened pretty much every other time.   
> Only 1 chapter left, but it's more like a short little prolouge because it's going to be set one year on. It might take me a while to get around to because I'm away for a few days and it's nearly school again and also I tend to procrastinate endings because it makes me sad to finish it :/ but it will be finished no worries there.  
> I love kudos and especially comments! :3 Hope you enjoyed reading!


	8. One Year Later

 

I’m not quite sure what time it is when I finally stumble into Angels, the coffee shop where I work, but by my reckoning it is way too early in the morning to be doing anything, let alone working. Of course, Mina disagrees.

“Sarah! You’re late again!” she says, as she does a last minute wipe down of the tables. Even in my bleary eyed state the sight of her going up onto tiptoes to reach the other side makes me smile.

“Sorry babe,” I mumble. “I overslept.” I go behind the counter and dump my stuff.

“Again?” Mina asks, sighing. “What are you doing all night? And you know you can’t leave your stuff there, it’s against health and safety!”

“Sorry,” I say again and take my bag to the little staff break room. “And I couldn’t sleep because my book’s going on sale today, as you very well know!” I call out to her.

When I emerge she’s got a cute little grin. “I suppose you’re excused this time.”

“Can I get myself a coffee?” I ask, as I do every morning.

“Only if you pay,” replies Mina, as she does every morning.

“Staff discount?” I try. It sometimes works.

“Hmm… one kiss,” she decides as she straightens out some armchairs.

 “Deal,” I agree and skip over to her and peck her sweetly on the lip. This quickly escalates, as things tend to do.

“Not again guys!” complains a loud and irritatingly familiar voice. We break apart to see our most annoying friend and co-worker, Gabriel, leaning against the doorframe. “So, it’s ‘unhygienic’ if I eat a lollipop, but it’s totally fine for you two to lick each other’s throats out?”

“Pretty much,” shrugs Mina. “Though I’d like to point out that I have slightly better technique than ‘licking her throat out,’ right Sarah?”

I nod in agreement, feeling my face heat up slightly.

“I’ll take your word for it,” grumbles Gabriel as he makes his way behind the counter.

“Don’t you want to test it?” Mina suggests innocently. She ignores my sudden death stares.

Gabriel smirks. “Thanks for the offer but I think I’ll stick with my Sammy.”

I have to admit I’m more than a little relieved, even though I know Mina was only joking in the first place. Our usual morning teasing and chatter continues as I make myself a drink, Mina finishes checking over the tables and Gabriel makes some last minute arrangements to the piles of book’s we’ve got on the far counter. Most of them are Chuck’s, ‘Unnatural,’ which although not a best seller has gathered a small cult like following (aka a fandom).

We’re actually really grateful for Chuck’s book as thanks to it’s the local fandom that Angel’s is still in business. Considering the amount of trouble Operation Cean caused with Gabriel on board, we decided that maybe interfering with our customers’ lives isn’t the best plan we ever had, but when Chuck’s book got sorta popular, everyone wanted to come and see the café where it was written!

Did I mention that some of the books on sale here are mine? I finally did it and managed to write my very own romance novel! It’s called ‘Interfering Baristas Save Cupids’ and I might have gotten a few ideas from Operation Cean, but I’m pretty sure I’ve changed it enough so that nobody will be able to tell. Things could get a bit awkward otherwise… I’ve already sent my friends a copy but I’m not sure if any of them have finished it yet. Gabriel said he would use his as confetti but Moose secretly promised me he’d get him to read it somehow. Though if he figures out that one of the characters is based a teeny tiny bit on him, he might get a bit annoyed at how often I used words like ‘annoying’ and ‘short.’

An alarm on Mina’s phone goes off, signalling that it’s time to open up.

“I’ll get it,” I say and cross over to the door to twist round the little ‘open/closed’ sign. Almost immediately I spot Dean and Cas, walking along the street hand in hand. I give them a little wave and they smile back.

“Heya guys!” I greet them brightly when they reach Angels.

“Hello Sarah,” replies Castiel in his normal gravelly tones. As usual, he’s in his trench coat and tie outfit, though under Dean’s guidance he does occasionally make an expedition into the exciting world of other clothes.

“Hey,” says Dean. He smiles. “We read your book!”

I grin a little nervously. “What did you think?”

“It was great! Castiel liked it too.”

“It was a very interesting study of a small community and the challenges of romance,” added Castiel. Oh right, English student, I wouldn’t be surprised if he wrote an essay on it or something.

“Well coming from you that means a lot!” I say, beaming. “Now, what would you two like to drink?” I begin to head back behind the counter.

“Just one thing first,” interrupts Dean, stopping me in my tracks. “Did you really set me and Cas up?”

My blood runs cold. Okay… maybe I wasn’t quite as subtle as I thought.

 “Well…” I say slowly. I catch Mina’s eye and we exchange worried glances. Gabriel is trying not to laugh over there and he’s really not making this any easier. Revolving on the spot to face Castiel and Dean again, I try on a smile. “It turned out well in the end? And it was for true love?”

Their hard expressions suggest they’re unimpressed.

 Oops. Looks like I’ve got some explaining to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Agghhh I can't believe I finished it! This is the longest fic I've ever done so far! I'm going to miss Angels since I've become ridiculously over-attatched to it so maybe I'll do another one one day who knows.  
> Thank you for everyone who read this, left kudos or comments or subscribed! It's so cool to know there are people reading this :)  
> Hope you enjoyed it and please leave comments!  
> My url is stoprighttheremywaywardson if you go on that you should be able to find some drawings for this I did somewhere.


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